


Invisible

by I_Delta_I



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-24 21:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 66,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6168082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Delta_I/pseuds/I_Delta_I
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winter has given Storybrooke a nice white cloak, Emma spends time with her family, everybody looks happy and is healthy, there are no threats from any sort of villains. But why does Emma have this nagging feeling like there is something missing in her life, something she desperately wants but fears she might never have? SwanQueen fluff with a touch of smut (rated T, some chapters might be M/E but you'll be warned) (Chapter 18/23 are rated E).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as just a transcript of a dream I had, but has kind of gotten a life of it's own and is not at all what I had imagined at first. It's my first fic ever, I've never written anything else before. I discovered I like writing so much that I just can't stop. 
> 
> The story is not set in any particular time of OUAT and slightly AU, but if I were to guess it would be around 4A.  
> Thoughts of the characters are in italics.
> 
> I don’t own OUAT or the characters I’m borrowing :)
> 
> My first language is not English, it’s Dutch so if I make a grammar or spelling mistake I apologize, I try my best not to. 
> 
> Feedback is always nice, I could learn from constructive criticism.

Chapter 1 

 

Emma let out a deep sigh, while she was sitting at Mary Margaret’s breakfast bar drinking a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and whipped cream. She loved how the cup of the delicious brown liquid warmed her hands and how the warmth coursed through the rest of her body. 

Today was a cold winters day in the beginning of February. Before sighing so loud Emma was thinking of another brown something that made her feel warm inside. “ _Regina’s eyes, wait a minute…why am I thinking of Regina’s warm, beautiful, brown eyes?”_

After letting out the sigh and before Emma could analyse her thoughts she heard someone say “Is everything alright Emma? You have been staring in the same direction for nearly ten minutes and now you’re sighing quite loudly. Is there something on you mind? I can’t imagine the toaster is so interesting to look at.” Mary-Margaret said. 

“Huh?, no I suppose not.” 

“What?” “I suppose the toaster isn’t that interesting to look at”. 

Mary-Margaret looked a little confused at this answer to her question, so she asked her daughter again “Is there something wrong Emma?” 

“No, why would there be? Everything is great! It’s winter, a little cold but dry, there’s snow, Henry’s building a snowman outside with David, I have this nice cup of hot chocolate…everything is just perfect.” 

Snow could see in Emma’s eyes that this probably wasn’t the whole truth but she decided to let it slide for now. If Emma wanted to tell her what was on her mind she would have told her. Perhaps her daughter would confide in her later so she decided not to push. 

“What do you say we join your father and Henry outside?” “Okay mom, let’s go! I say we will ambush them while they are working on their snowman and start a snowball fight! _“Yes, getting some fresh air will clear my mind”_.

* * *

 

After a lovely afternoon of spending time with her family and winning the snowball fight against David and Henry, Emma felt much better. 

“Ma, me and grandpa have decided that since you and grandma cheated during the snowball fight, you can no longer claim victory.” Emma turned around to see Henry entering the living room while taking of his coat, hat, scarf and gloves. She tried to look shocked and threw a hand over her heart while asking “Whatever gave you the idea that your grandma and I would cheat?” 

“Well, not so much grandma as you, I know you used magic during the battle. You couldn’t possibly create so many snowball in so little time! You were like a machine out there, they just kept coming, we didn’t stand a chance!” Looking at Henry while he was giving his little speech made Emma smirk a little. The beginning of a smile on her face didn’t go unnoticed by her son and so he screamed “See, I was right, you did cheat! Grandpa, Grandpa, ma is a cheater, Henry started yelling to David as he came up the stairs to enter the apartment as well, so we didn’t lose after all. 

“Ma, I hereby disqualify you and grandma for this round of snowball fighting”. 

Emma glared at her son and was about to make a comment when she heard Snow saying “Don’t be mad at Henry for figuring out our little secret.” He’s right we cheated and so it’s only fair we get disqualified. Though it wasn’t my choice to cheat, Mary-Margaret said while giving Emma a slightly disapproving look. 

“Alright, alright, Emma caved.” So I used a little magic, don’t be so dramatic over it and gang up on me. She gave everyone in the room a glare. 

“Okay, now that’s settled let’s adjust our score board, shall we”, David said.

David walked past Henry towards a small blackboard that was hanging on a wall in the living room. The board read: snowball fight scores. Written in crayon on the left side of the board there stood ‘TEAM SNOW & EMMA 3’, while on the right side it said ‘TEAM DAVID & HENRY’  3. David took the crayon in his hands and erased the 3 on the right side and put down a 4 in it’s place while smiling. “Looks like we’re leading now Henry”, Henry walked over to David and gave him a high five before he turned around again and smiled deviously towards his mother. 

“That’s what you get for cheating ma, let this be a lesson”. 

Emma opened her mouth to say something but before she had the chance Henry went up the stairs while stating he was going to pack his bag because it was almost time for Emma to bring him home to Regina for her weekend with him.

She turned on her heel while muttering something about “who is the parent and who is the child here…. learning lessons” and lets out a huff. Mary-Margaret just couldn’t help herself and laugh at that and soon David joined her. Emma just tried to ignore them and let herself plop down on the couch and in an instant she was back to her thoughts, back to Regina…

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

“Ma, I can’t find my keys” Henry yelled from upstairs, while frantically searching through every drawer in his room, the top of his nightstand and the pockets of his coat. Emma stood from the couch and decided she would go and help her son look for them, she didn’t want to be late because Henry misplaced his keys and she was sure Regina wouldn’t like it if Henry was going to be late for dinner with her.

When she entered Henry’s room she saw her son sitting on the bed, sulking slightly. Henry looked up meeting Emma’s eyes and stated “I looked everywhere and found nothing. What if I lost my keys outside? We’ll never find them in al that snow. Mom is not going to be pleased when she learns I lost the keys to our home”

Emma went to step closer towards Henry when something caught her eye. A set of keys, laying under Henry’s bed. “Hey kid, don’t beat yourself up over losing some keys, it happens. And I don’t think you’ve looked everywhere” Emma said with a small smirk on her face, while receiving a confused look from Henry. 

Deciding that she wouldn’t let the boy suffer any longer Emma walked closer to the bed, bend at the knees and picked up the keys from the ground. She dangled them in front of Henry’s face, who felt a small blush creeping up his neck, reaching his cheeks because of the drama he made over nothing and stated “Perhaps I didn’t look everywhere after all”.

“No perhaps you didn’t”, Emma said with a chuckle, while she ruffled through Henry’s hair, earning her a glare for messing it up and a second later a nice smile when she handed him his keys.

“So are you ready to go now? Your mom has a thing for punctuality, so we must get going if we want to drop you off at 5 pm.”

“Yep, I’m all set”.

When Emma and Henry descended the stairs and were back in the living room they just caught Mary-Margaret hanging up the phone. She turned around and when she saw Emma she pointed towards the phone and said, “Ashley just called to invite me and David over for dinner. We were already going to their home to pick up Neal from his play date with Alexandra in 10 minutes, but I guess we’ll be staying a while.” She looked at David, who was standing in the kitchen and when he smiled at her she knew he’d like to have dinner with Ashely and her family too.

“You don’t mind do you Emma? You’ll have to make something for yourself when you get back from dropping Henry off at Regina’s.”

“No of course I don’t mind, go have a fun night with friends and my baby brother. I’ll just go out and eat something at Granny’s. I don’t like to cook just for one person and I could really go for a nice burger with fries and a milkshake Emma stated as she practically felt her mouth watering.”

Meanwhile, Henry became a little jealous at his mother when he considered that Regina already told him todays menu. He was going to have a steak with potatoes and, scrunching up his nose when the though alone crossed his mind,…Brussel sprouts. God did he hate them. People say your taste changes when you get older but even after 14 years Henry still despised those little cabbages so much a shiver when through his spine. He wished he could go out and eat with Emma.

“Okay, then that’s settled, we should all be going now or we’ll all be late”, David said while looking at the time.

When everyone was outside they said their goodbye’s and went their separate ways.

 

* * *

 

The ride towards Mifflin street was pretty quiet. Henry was playing a game on his phone and Emma for some reason was getting a little anxious at the prospect of seeing Regina. She hated this feeling. She wonders why all of the sudden her mind was invested with all these thoughts about Henry’s other mother. Sure, they had come a long way, a very long way actually, from where they used to be when Emma first entered the town of Storybrooke.

Emma and Regina experienced a lot of hardship on the way that led to their current friendship. Yes, Emma would call them friends. They have saved each other multiple times from various threats, they raise their son together, they even spend quite some time together without their son on occasion. Like any set of normal friends often do. They would go do some shopping, catch a movie or have dinner together. Regina and Emma got along just fine now a days and they both needed that.

Emma’s best friend turned out to be her mother after all, so she didn’t always feel like she could have any conversation anymore with Mary-Margaret, or Ruby for that matter since she apparently was her mother’s best friend. She shivered at the thought of their talks about men and unfortunately, one night stands. No, she needed someone else in her life to confide in and talk when she felt the need to. And Regina turned out to be the perfect someone for the ‘job’. Emma knew Regina also needed to have a good friend to talk to, even though Henry always listens to her, there is a need for some adult conversation sometimes and since Regina trusted Emma the most of all people in this town Emma became Regina’s sounding board.

While Emma was thinking about her and Regina and went to the part of trying to figure out why she started thinking of Regina in perhaps a whole other way than just a good friend, she was pulled out of her thoughts by Henry.

 “Hey ma, you just drove past my home”, this made Emma look to her right and see that het son was correct. She just drove past the house with the number 108.

 “Sorry kid, she said while stepping on the break and putting the car in reverse. I was just a little to focused on my thoughts I guess”, she said while she stopped in front of Henry’s other home and shrugged.

“What were you thinking about that distracted you so much?” Henry said while he tilted his head a little and tried to make eye-contact with his mother. Emma felt a little uncomfortable when she met Henry’s eyes and let her own break the contact and directed them at the big white house behind her son. Henry followed Emma’s gaze and tried to hide the smile that he felt was going to be on his face pretty soon. He mused in his thoughts that adults are so transparent sometimes and came to the conclusion that he might just have the right idea about why Emma gets distracted more often lately.

 

Perhaps it’s time for a new operation….


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 

Ignoring Henry’s question, Emma just got out of the yellow Bug and walked around the car to the passengers’ side. Henry opened his door and stepped out too. Emma held out her arms for a hug to say goodbye to her son. Even though Henry felt like he was perhaps getting a little old for hugs from his mothers or other relatives he obliged and stepped in her arms before returning the hug. 

“Come on ma, walk with me to the door”, Henry said.

“Alright kid”. Emma and Henry just walked up the path that led to the front door of the mansion, when said door opened and revealed Regina standing in the doorway. 

Regina was wearing a pair of black heels, a nice black pantsuit combined with a gorgeous royal blue scarf around her neck. 

Emma almost chuckled at the sight of the beautiful woman who was standing just a few feet away now…..” _ever so regal”._

Regina looked slightly confused when she spoke, “I believe I just saw your car pass by my house, Emma, what was that about?” 

Henry answered before Emma could speak, _and not for the first time today Emma thought by herself gritting her teeth a little, she was going to have to have a talk with Henry about that in the near future_. 

“Ow, ma was just contemplating something in her mind and got distracted. So she failed to see that we passed home already until I mentioned it to her. I asked her what about but she ignored the question”. 

At this Regina raised an eyebrow while looking back to Emma and said, “Miss Swan, I would appreciate it very much if you kept your eyes, as well as your mind on the road! You could get in an accident when you do not pay attention. You could have even get yourse.. Henry killed. Her voice changed at that last part, from slightly anger filled to more of a sad or caring tone. 

“I’m sorry Regina, you’re right, I really should stay focused while driving. I didn’t mean to upset you or create a situation in which Henry could get hurt.” Emma looked Regina in the eyes while apologizing and Regina noticed a little water forming in Emma’s. She decided Emma had been scolded enough and tried giving the blond a small smile so she would know it was okay.

The sadness of being on Regina’s bad side and being called miss Swan again, even for a moment, left Emma quickly when she saw that small smile appear. She decided to be bold and asked the brunette, just to be sure, “So, you’ll forgive me? While giving Regina the best imitation of puppy eyes she knew how to do. 

This earned her a classic eye roll from Regina, who now folded her arms over each other and replied “Yes, Emma, you are forgiven since nothing has happened and you gave me a well meant apology.”

“Thank God, Henry said while throwing his hands up in the air, crisis averted”. 

This made Emma and Regina turn their heads to their son and than back to each other. Both women couldn’t help but laugh a little and after a few seconds their small chuckles turned into full out laughter. Henry just watched them with an amused smile on his face thinking _well, laughing together is always a good start I’d say_ , _though I probably should be more careful how I get them to this point_ , as a new idea came to his mind.

“Mom?” Can ma stay and have dinner with us?, he asked Regina. 

Emma quickly said “That’s not necessary Regina. I don’t want to impose on your time with Henry and you probably haven’t got enough food prepared anyway. Besides I have got a nice juicy burger with fries with my name on it waiting for me at Granny’s, she said while smiling brightly towards Henry because she knew what Henry would be having for dinner in a few minutes. Ugh, Brussel sprouts, the though alone made her want to gag. Yes, the hatred they share for those vegetables Henry definitely inherited from his birth mother. 

“Actually, I have got plenty of food ready. I changed my plans for dinner tonight and felt more like making something from the Italian cuisine.” 

Emma and Henry exchanged a surprised look with each other, since Regina seldom deviated from her plans. Henry just shrugged to Emma and asked “Well what are we having then?”

“I made spaghetti Bolognese” Regina said, while noticing some sort of relieved look on her sons face. 

_“_ So, Emma, you’re more then welcome to stay and have dinner with us.”

“Well, spaghetti is one of my favourite dishes in the world and Granny’s is not going anywhere, I guess. Alright, in that case and if you really don’t mind I shall stay and have dinner with you guys”

“Come on in then both of you, we’ve been standing on the porch for far too long already, all the cold is coming inside”. Regina turned on her heel and opened the door a little further so everyone could get inside. As she walked through the door she didn’t notice Emma telling Henry “Kid, sometimes you should really keep your huge mouth shut, while glaring at him. 

“Sorry ma, I didn’t expect mom to freak out like that,” Henry gave Emma an apologetic smile. “And please, no more talking before your turn, it’s kinda rude” “Henry rolled his eyes at his mother, but she didn’t catch him doing it.

As the little brunette and his mother went inside to hang up their coats, Regina closed the door behind them and made an almost invisible gesture with her hand. Turning the planned dinner she made for her and Henry into spaghetti Bolognese, with some red pepper flakes to give it that extra kick…

 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

Emma and Henry were both leaning back into the chairs at the dining table with their hands on their stomachs and very satisfied looks on their faces. Regina noticed, not for the first time, that the son she loved so much and his birth mother sometimes looked and behaved so a like. The sight of the two of them having enjoyed her cooking so much made her smile. 

She enjoys having Emma over, hence why she secretly used magic to quickly prepare a meal she was sure Emma would gladly stay for. 

During their meal Emma and Henry told her all about what they did the last couple of days, which Henry had spent with his birth mother and the rest of her family. 

From shopping for a new pair of sneakers for Henry, to going to the park with little Neal, and of course Henry had to tell Regina all about the snowball fight competition they started when winter gifted the town with it’s thick white cloak. 

All this family time that did not include her, made her a little sad. She wished she could be a part of that piece of Henry’s live too, and Emma’s…..she had wished this for some time now “ _being part of Emma’s live, with Henry would also mean spending time with the Charmings…*ugh*…._ “ But the more Regina thought about it the more she realized she would gladly put up with that if it meant she could finally be happy. But she quickly realized it was a dream she had to put out of her mind. Who would want to be with the Evil Queen, okay ex-Evil Queen, but her past would haunt her forever and surely cause complications if she and Emma would ever be together. Not to mention how the Charmings would feel about such a thing and the fact that they were both women…

She didn’t even know she could develop such feelings for another woman. When she realized a few months ago that she had, she was quite shocked and eventually told herself it was just a small infatuation that would go away soon, but then it didn’t. And now here she is, pining over someone who could not and would not, now or ever love her back. 

When Henry arrived at the story of today’s match between him teamed up with Charming and Emma with Snow, she tried to act like her normal self and couldn’t help but say, “Miss Swan, really? Cheating with magic to win a match of snowball fighting, cheating our son. I would have thought you’d be better than that, her dismissive tone of voice exactly on point.” 

Emma retorted with “Well, your majesty, we can’t all be so fair as yourself” and added a wink to that. 

This comment had not only caused a little blush to form on Regina’s face but also on the blonde’s, because she definitely didn’t intend for that wink to accompany the comment and they were both aware that ‘fair’ also means beautiful, though obviously in different context. And than there were both their minds that were kind of starting to drive them insane with thinking of the other woman.

The conversation stopped there and they all went to finish the last bites of their dinner. 

.......

“Regina, I have to say, no one can beat you in the kitchen. Dinner was amazing and I couldn’t eat more if I wanted to. I’m so full, Emma said with a little sigh, followed by a “Please don’t tell my mother I said that.” 

“Well, that is too bad Emma, because I also made dessert.” 

This caused Henry to pay attention to the conversation and fuelled by his curiosity he asked “Really, mom, you made dessert? What kind of dessert?” 

Smirking slightly before answering “I made Tiramisu”. Then Regina stood from her seat a went to clear the table while adding, “But since you’re both full I don’t see how that matters”, as she walked towards the kitchen with the empty plates in her hands. 

“Hey, I never said I was full!”, Henry retorted. 

“You didn’t have to say it, you showed all the signs, just like your mother”. 

To this Emma smiled while seeing Regina leaving the dining room and turning towards her son “Well, she got you there, we just look too much alike sometimes”. 

Henry placed his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands, put on frown on his face and just began sulking while muttering “Yeah, thanks for that ma”. 

 

* * *

 

“Regina?” Emma walked into the kitchen with some empty glasses, when Regina turned around to face the woman who just called her name. 

“Yes, dear?” 

“I was wondering if I could help you with the dishes?” 

“I would appreciate that, thank you. You dry, I’ll wash, you can find the dishtowel in that cabinet over there, she said and extended her arm to point her finger to the third cabinet on her left.

“All right”, Emma walked over to the cabinet, opened the door and took a dishtowel from the shelf. 

Regina already started to wash some plates, so Emma could begin drying right away.

While Emma and Regina were doing the dishes there was a comfortable silence around them. After ten minutes of working seamlessly together on the task, Regina put down the last clean, wet, glass that was covered with foam from the soap she used. 

Emma noticed Regina’s hands were covered in foam as well. Without hesitation, or thinking, she grabbed Regina’s hands carefully and dried them off by gently wiping the dishtowel over the soft hands she was holding and looking at.

When her hands were dry again, Regina, who had a blush on her face cleared her throat. This made Emma look up at Regina meeting her eyes. She noticed Regina’s blush and the shy look on the woman’s face. At that moment she realized what she had done and felt heat coursing thought her veins straight to her own face, making her match Regina’s blush without any effort. 

“Uh…sorry, she managed to get out, releasing Regina’s hands as she spoke softly. 

Regina quickly composed herself, but not before missing Emma’s touch on her and replied “That’s okay, thank you for drying my hands. She scolded herself in her mind “ _thank you for drying my hands, what a thing to say...”_

Their little moment of intimacy and awkwardness was interrupted by Henry “ _Thank God, Emma thought, I just touched Regina and didn’t even realize I was doing it until she made a sound…get your act together Emma!”._

_“_ Mom, can we have a movie night, the three of us I mean?” Henry tilted his head a little when asking the question and frowned a little. His mothers were acting strange, both of their faces looked like tomatoes and they stepped apart a little as he had entered the kitchen. 

“Of course we can watch a movie Henry, but I cannot decide for Emma if she will be joining us”.

“Ma, will you stay and watch a movie with us?” 

Emma brought a finger to her lips and lightly tapped it against her mouth while contemplating what she should do. “ _I don’t know if it’s best to stay, I really screwed up just now...”_

_“I_ Already picked out the movie ma, it’s your favourite, Henry said with a twinkle in his eyes and a pleading look.” How could Emma refuse that face, even as a teenager Henry could still be the cutes kid. 

“Okay kid I’ll stay.”

Henry made a fist pump in the air “Yes, it’s time for Avengers: Age of Ultron”.

 

* * *

 

At half past 10 the movie ended and as Emma looked to her right she saw Henry sleeping on the couch. His head rested against Regina’s left shoulder, she noticed Regina had put her head on top of Henry’s and made barely audible snoring sounds. Emma sighed as she took in this perfect little family sitting asleep on the couch, she loved this. Spending time with those she cared about very much. 

Emma rose up from the couch and walked over to Regina. She didn’t exactly know how she should do it, but it had to be done. She had to wake them up from their sleep so they could say goodbye and get a good night sleep in their comfortable beds. 

She decided to just call out the tall brunette’s name and hope for the best. “Regina, she whispered…. nothing…. again “Regina” …….no movement to be detected…. Emma rolled her eyes and said a little louder “Regina” …. _God this isn’t working…._ At these failed attempts to wake the woman she went for her second option. Emma put her hand on Regina’s shoulder and tried shaking her softly.

This, fortunately, had the desired effect. Regina’s eyelids fluttered several times before she slowly opened her eyes. “Hello sleepyhead, Emma said with a light chuckle”. 

Regina was fully awake in an instant when she realized it was Emma who stood hovering over her. She lifted up her head asking “O Emma, is the movie over? Did I fell asleep? I’m sorry.”

“Yes Regina, the movie is over and you did fall asleep. Henry fell asleep too, but he had quite an active day with all the snowball fighting, what’s your excuse? Did you know you snore just a little while you sleep?” 

Regina glared at Emma, “I most certainly do **not** snore, miss Swan.”

“Yes you do mom”, Henry had awoken in the meantime and joined the conversation. 

Emma and Henry now both laughed at the annoyed expression that covered Regina’s face. 

“Fine she said, whatever” She stood from the couch and walked towards a window. 

“I should really be heading home kid, it’s late, you and your mom are both tired, and your grandparents are probably wondering where I am, Emma said while looking at her watch. 

“I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere tonight Emma” Regina turned away from the window she had been looking through. 

“What do you mean I’m not going anywhere?” a surprised expression formed on Emma’s face. 

“Well, it would appear that winter dropped a few more feet of snow outside, it’s simply not possible to get to your car without digging through a lot of snow first and you couldn’t possibly consider driving in that death-trap of yours in this weather.” 

This made Emma walk up to the window as well. 

“First, my car is not a death-trap and second I think you’re right. I can’t believe so much snow has fallen in the time that I’ve been here, she said while scratching the top of her head. 

“Awesome, we can have a sleepover!” A big smile broke out on Henry’s face.

 

* * *

 

As Emma was laying there in one of Regina’s guest bedrooms she played out the whole day in her head. And with that she came to one shocking conclusion for herself, there was just no getting around it as realization dawned on her. “I like Regina, I have feelings for Regina” she said softly to herself.

That night Emma couldn’t fall asleep and neither could Regina. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

Henry opened his eyes and was still half asleep when he realized it was Saturday morning and he remembered everything that had happened yesterday. Before he fell asleep last night he had figured out how to name his current mission that would bring his moms even closer to each other. He wasn’t sure if he should go through with it before, but when he ‘caught’ his mothers in the kitchen when they had almost finished doing the dishes he was sure that Regina had certain feelings for his birthmother.

They hadn’t seen him as he secretly watched the interaction between them before he decided to interrupt the awkward atmosphere that had arisen after the ‘hand holding and drying incident’. 

Yes, it only made him even more determined to execute the operation he had decided to call “operation Tiger Lily” or operation Tiger for short. The name had been carefully considered and picked with care. 

Belle had told him once that all the flowers in her father’s shop have a meaning. Henry specifically remembered her telling him that the Tiger Lily among other things stands for: love, femininity, and also carried a very important message “ _I dare you to love me”._

As he remembered all those details he thought it was the perfect name for his new operation. True to his fascination with animal names for his operations and also perfectly suiting the situation between his moms. 

If only his mothers weren’t so blind to the obvious attraction there was between them. “It’s right in front of their noses, visible for everyone (at least he thinks so) but apparently totally invisible for them”, Henry sad to himself as he got out of bed.  

It was only 9 am when he got up, so he left his pyjamas on and went down stairs expecting his mother to be up already and making breakfast. Walking into the kitchen he was surprised to see no activity whatsoever. Raising an eyebrow and shrugging to himself he figured that both of his mothers must still be asleep. He expected Emma to still be in bed, because she always liked to sleep in on the weekends, or actually always, but now she could as she had a whole week of so no shifts for her at the sheriff’s station. However, Regina was another matter, she never slept in, not even in the weekends. Perhaps she hadn’t slept well Henry thought.

Wondering what to do now he had the idea of making breakfast for himself and his mothers, to surprise them when they would finally join him downstairs. 

Henry walked towards the refrigerator and opened the door to see what’s inside. He took out the eggs, orange juice and turkey bacon Regina kept there. 

“Scrambled eggs with fried turkey bacon and orange juice it is” he said to himself. 

 

* * *

 

Regina groaned a little when she woke up and saw, when she turned her head to the right to see what time it was, that she overslept. It was 9:45 am now. The last time she checked the alarm clock it had been 4:30 am, she must have finally fallen asleep some time after that. 

Before sleep took over she had been thinking about Emma, and how she felt about the gorgeous blond, with those bright green eyes that had the ability to make her get lost in them, and how Emma had touched her hand. The action had sent a shiver up her spine at the moment their hands connected. Emma had quite soft hands to her surprise and the blond had been very gentle with her motions on Regina’s. She just failed to let it go that night, and now she was sleep deprived, “ _Great, just great Regina”._

Knowing she had to get out of bed to make breakfast for herself and her son and guest she got up and instead of just putting on her robe she went directly to the bathroom to take a quick shower. When she stepped out of the shower she walked back into her room and picked out het clothes for the day. She opted for a pair of nice simple, but elegant black heels, black slacks, and a nice warm red sweater. 

She got dressed, did her hair and put on some light make-up. 

“There, all ready to face the day, she mused to herself”.

When she opened her bedroom door the smell of something burning hit her nose. “ _O God, Emma better not be ‘cooking’ in my kitchen, what’s she doing, burning the freaking house down?!”…._ Regina descended the the stairs quickly to see what was going on. She was ready to call out miss Swan when she stepped into her kitchen, but to her surprise she saw it was not Emma who was burning the contents of a pan but their son. 

“Henry, what are you doing?” 

Henry looked up when he was trying to dispose of the now burned breakfast, a shocked expression on his face. “ _O it had to be mom to catch me failing to make breakfast”,_ his eyes went from his obviously angered mother to the pan in his hands and all he could say was “Uh, making breakfast? He shook his head “I mean, failing to make us breakfast?” an innocent smile now on his face. 

“Failing would be correct, Henry how could you have let this happen” Regina said as she walked closer to her son and went on to take the pan from his hands. 

“Well…I just wanted to surprise you and ma with breakfast when you would come downstairs, his eyes pointed towards his feet as he spoke “and I was doing really well, but then I suddenly had to go to the bathroom and I forgot the turn the stove off and when I returned I was too late, the eggs and bacon were burned and I hadn’t even been gone that long, he started rambling…

“Henry stop”, Regina put up her hand and got the attention of the boy in front of her. 

She took his chin in her hand and tilted his head up a little more so he would be looking at her as she spoke. “I think is really sweet of you to want to surprise your mothers with breakfast and I know you can cook Henry, but please never ever do this again. Her facial expression softened considerably when she looked her son in the eyes. “Forgetting to turn of the stove when you have to do something else can have more serious consequences than just some burned food, I raised you better than that.”

Letting out a sigh Henry replied “I know mom, and I’m sorry.” 

“Apology accepted", Regina said with a smile, “Now can I have a hug?” 

“Sure, mom, I love you”

“I love you too Henry, very much”.

“Now that this is over, I’ll help you clean up the mess you made”. 

“Thanks mom”.

 

* * *

 

At 10:15, Emma entered the kitchen in her pyjamas and saw two sets of eyes looking at her. 

“Good morning ma” 

“Good morning Emma, I see my pyjamas suit you well.” 

At that comment Emma suddenly became a little self conscious that she was wearing pj’s in front of Regina, who of course was looking perfectly coiffed and dressed. 

“Good morning to you two as well, Emma said while fidgeting with her hands. It smells like something is burning here, what happened?” 

Regina and Henry looked at each other and Regina moved her head in Emma’s direction prompting Henry to tell all about what had occurred that morning.

When he was finished talking Emma’s first question was, “So what are we having for breakfast now?”

This earned her an eye roll from Regina who retorted, “Do you always have food on your mind first?”

“Well, now I have, I’m a little hungry and you already talked to Henry about how irresponsible he behaved.” She now directed herself to her son “I do appreciate that you wanted to make us all breakfast, kid” 

“Thanks ma, Henry said with a smile.”

“So back to my question, what are we going to eat?” 

“I know”, Henry practically ran towards the fridge and took out a large platter, when he turned around he had the biggest grin on his face, “We’re having Tiramisu”.

Emma thought her son was a genius, what a way to start the day. 

Regina however was not amused, put her hands on her hips, and said “Henry, please put back the Tiramisu, it’s a dessert not something you eat for breakfast”.

“But there is nothing else mom, I burned it all, we have to go shopping today.”

“Put it back anyway, we will have breakfast at Granny’s”.

“I don’t think we can call it breakfast anymore when we arrive there Regina, Emma stated. I looked out my window when I got up and called my parents to tell them where I am and it has snowed even more last night. We are going to have to dig us out of here first and then we can only go on foot towards main street. Driving is simply impossible as you said so yourself yesterday.”

When Emma finished talking they all heard this rumbling noise, Regina felt two sets of eyes peering at her, followed by laughter from the blond and their son. 

“I think your stomach is trying to tell you something Regina, Emma said with a smirk.”

Regina huffed and relented, “Fine, Tiramisu it is”.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

After ‘breakfast’ was finished, Emma had offered Regina to clear the path that led from the front door of the mansion to the side walk, with some help from their son. However, first they had to get dressed. 

Henry was dressed in no time and wore a pair of jeans, a dark blue sweater and booths to tackle all the snow. When he went to see if his mother had finished putting on her clothes, he noticed as he walked in the guest bedroom that she was wearing the same outfit as yesterday. Of course Emma had nothing else to wear as she had spent the night by accident. She wore nothing more then her skinny jeans, and a tank top combined with her red leather jacket. 

“Ma, I’m going to ask mom to give you a sweater to wear. It’s way too cold outside for what you’re wearing now”. 

“Oh, Henry, Regina has done more than enough for me already. I’ve eaten her food, imposed on her time with you and spent the night here, she replied while walking to the vanity in the room.”

“Ma, you weren’t imposing on us. I like having you here and being able to spend time with both my parents, and I know mom appreciates your company as well.”  Henry put a hand on his mother’s shoulder as he spoke to her. 

“Really, Regina likes it when I’m around?” 

“Yes she does ma, I’m sure of it. I mean, you two are very good friends these days and friends like spending time with each other. It really makes mom very happy to have a good friend like you in her life. Whenever you two spend time together she is always in a good mood, you’re very special to her.” 

“Is that so? Emma smiled towards her son. Well, then maybe you could go and ask her for me if I could borrow a sweater. 

“I’ll do that” he said and walked out the room.

As her son closed the door behind him Emma sat back on her bed. _So, according to my son I have a good influence on Regina’s mood and I’m very special to her. I wonder what that means….maybe….possibly…..she likes me as much as I like her?_ Emma shook her head at that thought. _No she couldn’t possibly like me like that. I mean, as good of friends we are now there is still our past, she hated my guts once. Plus, I’m a woman, and although I’ve always known I could also be attracted to women, I’ve never been in a serious relationship with one before, and I don’t think Regina is bisexual. And than there are my parents, and the townspeople, and our son. How would Henry feel about such a thing, I honestly don’t know._

As Emma carried on thinking about her feelings she pulled of her jacket and her tank top and placed it on her thighs and began folding it. 

_“No, it will never happen, I just have to stop thinking about it and move on”._

Suddenly the door to her bedroom swung open and in the door opening stood Regina, holding a green sweater.

As Regina saw the blonde jumping of the bed, her top and jacket falling on the floor, she couldn’t help but give the blonde a look over. She noticed Emma had very nice abs, strong toned arms and beautiful breasts. Not as large as her own, but perfect for Emma’s body type. 

When her eyes reached the face of the blonde and the nervous look on it she tried to compose herself and said, with a light tremble in her voice, “I’m so sorry Emma. Henry said you were in need of some warmer clothing and he said you were dressed. I should have knocked on the door first. Her eyes left Emma’s and she directed them towards the ground as she walked over to Emma and reached out her arm at full length to hand the sweater over to the blonde.

Emma took the sweater from Regina and quickly pulled it over her head. “It’s okay Regina, thanks for the sweater”. She walked over to the vanity again and looked at herself in the mirror, the sweater suited her, and the red colour of her cheeks. “I’ll tie up my hair and then I’ll be down, she said, as casually as possible, to Regina who was still standing in the room.

“Uh, yes, I’ll see you in a minute Regina said while swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat and left the room, closing the door behind her.

She leaned against the closed door and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The sight of Emma without a shirt had had its effect on her. She still felt a swirling heat coiling through her body in the direction of her centre. After closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she breathed out and opened her eyes again, she then went to the stairs and began descending the steps.  

Emma ran her hands trough her hair and attempted to make a ponytail. _“Did Regina just check me out?! I could have sworn she was, it even looked like her beautiful brown eyes became even darker, as if her pupils dilated. No Emma, you’re just imagining things that aren’t there. My feelings must just be clouding my judgement big time._

When she finally managed to tie her hair up after three fruitless attempts, she took  a deep breath and exited her room to go downstairs. The fresh outdoors would do her good she thought and the work that had to be done will be a nice distraction. 

 

* * *

 

“Hey kid, come on. We only have a few feet of snow to go and the path to the sidewalk will be cleared”.

Emma smiled as she noticed her son was getting a little tired of all the hard work they had been doing. They had shuffled snow for nearly 1,5 hours already. 

“Yeah ma, I’m still going at it. I’m just putting a little less snow on the shovel because my arms are starting to hurt just a little”. 

“That’s normal Henry, you’re not used to this work, so you use all kinds of muscles you normally don’t so much. It will make you stronger though”, she smiled when she saw that the prospect of getting stronger made Henry doubled the load of snow on his shovel again as he set a determined look on his face. 

When they were all done they put away the shovels in the garage and went inside the mansion to warm up and have something to drink. 

“I made hot chocolate for us, Regina said as she saw her two hard workers enter the mansion. It’s in the kitchen, follow me.”

As they all entered the kitchen Emma and Henry both felt their mouths watering. Regina had not only made them hot chocolate, she also made a fantastic looking and wonderful smelling apple pie.

When Regina noticed the looks on their faces she flashed a smile and said “I thought you deserved a snack after all that hard work, and while I was hoping to make us a healthy lunch since we already had Tiramisu for ‘breakfast’, but that plan had to be set aside because the only thing left in the house that could be edible were the ingredients for apple pie. I really have to go to the store this afternoon.”

“We don’t mind”, Emma and Henry replied simultaneously with happy grins on their faces. 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still the most fun chapter to write :)

Chapter 7 

 

After Emma, Regina and Henry had made their way to the grocery store and got everything Regina needed, Emma offered to walk back to the mansion with them. She had felt it was the least she could do. Regina had taken great care of her after all since Friday evening. And they bought so many things that Henry and Regina could use an extra pair of hands. 

Unfortunately, the roads weren’t cleared yet, the snowplough of the city had a defect and the parts the car mechanic needed to fix it couldn’t be delivered for another week. So driving still was impossible. 

As the two brunettes and the blonde made their way to the mansion, each carrying a grocery bag, Henry wondered if they could have some fun on the road. 

“Hey mom, can we make just a little detour before we go home?”

“That depends on what kind of detour you have in mind Henry”, Regina answered while switching the bag she was carrying from her left, to her right hand. 

“I was hoping we could go to the park” 

“What do you want to do in the park, kid?”

“I was just thinking, it would be cool to have a second snowball competition and the park seems like a perfect place to start the game”. To this both Emma and Regina raised an eyebrow while looking at the shy expression on the boys face. 

“What do you mean kid?” 

“Well, you and I have got the competition with Grandma and Grandpa, but I would like it very much if I could also have a shot at beating both of my moms in one of our own” Henry’s face was now full of glee.

Regina let out a little cackle, “And you think you can beat me, or Emma? Rather confident, are you? I’m not one to walk away from a little challenge, are you miss Swan? What do you say, shall we show our son how to win a battle?”

Emma was amused be Regina’s desire to win, “Sure, I accept the challenge. What are the rules kid?”

“I figured for the first round of the battle we are all on our own. The first one to get hit by 5 snowballs is out. Then the second and last round will begin with the two people who were left standing in the first round’ _“And I’m so gonna make sure it will be my mothers, I have no intention of winning this game.”_

Emma and Regina both agreed to the game and the rules as they arrived at the park. It was really quiet in the park. Not a soul to be seen and a fresh pack of snow ready at their disposal. 

“Wow, Emma said, I can’t believe no one else is around, it’s just so beautiful out here.”  

“I think they are all inside their warm homes. If I wasn’t out of food I wouldn’t have gone outside either” Regina commented, “but you’re right it’s very beautiful out here.”

They walked towards one of the park benches and put down the groceries they were still carrying, after wiping the majority of the snow away. 

“I’m glad I still had a pair of good walking booths in my closet somewhere”, Regina said. 

“Yeah, you should be, you wouldn’t even have made it to the store in your heels, Emma said laughing. 

“You don’t know what I’m capable of miss Swan, the brunette replied in a playful tone.”

“Well, you can educate me during this battle, your Majesty, Emma took a bow when she said that.

“Indeed I shall, princess, watch and learn…. watch and learn”. Regina then turned around and walked towards her son, adding a little sway in her hips as she moved, making Emma’s mouth fall open and eyes widen, just a little.

 

* * *

 

When Henry had instructed his mothers to hide somewhere in the park before they started the game, he himself picked a spot too. The signal that started the match would be made by Henry by whistling on an acorn cap, he had kept in the pocket of his coat since the fall. 

After he blew on the cap, he quickly put it back in his pocket again and started to move, while carefully listening if he could hear his mothers somewhere. 

For his plan to work he had to make sure he would end up with just one of them in view. 

After 5 minutes of tension building in the park because nothing had happened yet, he finally saw his first victim. Up in a tree there was Emma. She had climbed it and sat with her legs hanging left and right from a think branch, waiting to spot either Henry or Regina. 

Unbeknownst to her, Henry had spotted her and he crept through some bushes to get closer. When he was positioned just about under Emma, he made a nice big and compact snowball. The kind that would hit you hard.

Henry aimed for his mother's back, he pulled back his arm, swung it hard and fast and released the white ball in his hand. 

It was a direct hit, one so hard and unexpected to Emma that she fell of the branch onto a fresh blanket of snow under the tree. 

“Holy sh…Emma started saying, before she heard a rustling noise in the bush behind her and turned her head to see who was there. As Henry crept out of the bush to see if his mother was okay, he was met by a glare that could have killed him, provided that looks could kill. 

“Henry, o my god, was that kind of force really necessary? Emma spat as she tried to get up on her feet again. She brushed of the snow that stuck to her jeans with her hands.

“Well, this **is** a battle mom and I want to win, Henry said with a little smirk that reminded Emma so much of Regina. “ _He really is her son”,_ Emma thought to herself. “Besides, you’re fine”. 

“Yes, indeed I am.”

“I have a proposition for you, ma”

“And what kind of proposition might that be?”

“You and I will, from now on, work together to defeat ma”, he smiled as he thought of the true reason for his proposal. 

“And why would I do that?”

“Well, because if I know you, and I do, you want to beat my mom just as much or maybe even more than I do. She practically told you to your face you would be incapable to do so. Surely you must have the need to prove her wrong”.

Emma let that sink in for a moment while rubbing her fingers over her chin.

“You are right about that, but she will kill us if she finds out we have made a truce only to gang up on her”.

“That’s why she won’t find out, ma.” Emma looked at Henry with a questioning face, so he elaborated. 

“We won’t actually be together when we work together. We will find mom separately and try to hit her with snowballs. But when we see each other, we won’t throw snowballs, so we won’t risk getting to 5 hits so fast, they would all have to come from mom, you see?”

“Yes, I get the picture Henry”, _It would be great to see Regina lose after her ‘watch and learn’ comment, I’ll do it. I’m gonna join the kid. This is going to be so much fun. “_ I will join you in your quest to beat your mother in the first round. But after that it’s you versus me, kid’’

_“That’s what you think mom…”_

“Okay, great, let’s do this’ And then they were both off in opposite directions, to find Regina.

 

* * *

 

_“For my plan to work it would be great if I found mom before Emma does, let’s hope it will all work out”._

As Henry walked in the direction of more trees he suddenly heard a twig snap behind him which made him turn around. Before he knew it, he was hit in the chest with a snowball. For dramatic effect he let himself fall on his back and closed his eyes a he lay there. “ _I hope her maternal instincts kick in and she takes the bait”_.

As Regina saw her son fall down, laying on the ground, with his eyes closed, she was sure it was some sort of ruse to get her back. Maybe he would surprise attack her if she went to make sure he was ok. 

However, Regina couldn’t just let her son lie there, what if there was something wrong. So she decided to take the gamble and walked to her sons’ body in the snow and tried shaking his shoulder.

Thankfully Henry’s eyes fluttered open quickly and a smile appear on his face, ‘ _good, nothing is wrong with my son’_ and as Regina prepared to make herself scarce she heard him say “Mom, I would like to propose a deal”. 

With surprise she reacted, ‘What are you talking about?’ 

Henry sat up, extending an arm to his mother. She took his hand and pulled him up. 

“Well, I would like to help you defeat ma.”

“I don’t need help to do that. It would be cheating you know”, her voice a little strict.

“The rules of the game didn’t state there couldn’t be alliances, her son stated seriously.”

“And why would I form an alliance with you?”

“Because I’m your son and I’m just to cute to refuse?” He said with a lopsided smile. 

This made Regina chuckle and say, “You are cute, but that really isn’t going to work, you know?”

“Fine, what if I promise you I will clean up my room myself for a month?”

Regina carefully considered this and wondered why her son would offer her that, _“he must want this alliance badly, but why? Maybe she could try to make a better deal if Henry truly had his heart set on this...”_

“No, that’s not enough, I will only team up with you if you not only clean your room for a month, but also do the dishes for a month as well”, an evil little smirk accompanied the offer she just made her son.

“ _Pfff, mom drives a hard bargain. But if I have to suffer a little for operation Tiger to work out, I will. I want my moms to finds their happiness, the happiness they have earned and truly deserve and I want them to be together, to realize they both want the same thing. And I want a real family more than anything.”_

Henry stood up straight, looked his mother in the eye and said “It’s a deal”.

He then gave Regina the same explanation as he gave his other mother as to how the alliance would work and then they went their separate ways, looking for Emma. 

 

* * *

 

Ten minutes had past since Henry and Regina had separated. As Henry carefully moved through the trees in the park he spotted a small clearing. He decided to walk to the edge of the clearing to see if someone else was there. 

Henry wasn’t the only person who had that idea. Both Regina and Emma were near the edge of the clearing too. Thankfully Henry spotted them before he stepped over the edge into the relatively small open space. He saw Emma was approaching from his right and Regina was approaching from the left.

It was Emma who crossed the line first and headed slowly to the centre of the clearing. Henry was sure Regina must have spotted her by now. He quickly turned his head to the left and saw he was right. Regina was now creating a snowball, while looking at her prospective victim with a smile on her face.

He was sure his mother was too far away from Emma to be able to hit her from that distance. And that was a good thing. It meant that his mother had to move into the clearing as well, leading to a face-off between his mothers. 

Not a minute later the very thing he hoped for happened. Regina crossed the line, stepping into the open space. Emma had caught her from the corner of her eye pretty quickly.

Henry had to act now!

He took the two snowballs he had prepared earlier into his hands and stormed towards his mothers. Both of them thinking he was there to help them. How very wrong they were…

Emma and Regina looked at each other, both huge smirks on their faces believing Henry would knock out the other woman for them. 

Henry was almost where he wanted to be, he moved swiftly, getting closer to his targets. At the time he completed a triangle in which the three now stood he raised his arms, then let them launch forward, and gave it all he got. One to the left, one to the right….

One hitting Emma at her left side and one hitting Regina on her right. 

Both women didn’t comprehend for a while what had happened here. Henry was supposed to be on their team, was he not? Why would he hit them? 

As he revelled in the feeling of his mission succeeding, or at least this important part of it, and the surprised and confused looks on his mothers’ faces, he yelled “I told you guys I was going to beat you both before we started this little game”, followed by a laugh that could easily be described as evil. 

“Hey kid, I thought we were a team, Emma said in a whining tone. How could you betray me like this?” 

“You were a team? I though we had pledged allegiance, Henry?”, Regina said in a disbelieving voice. Her own son would surely not double-cross her like that, would he?

When Henry said nothing the two women looked at each other. They finally realized that Henry had in fact double-crossed them. 

Henry got a little nervous now. It looked as if his mothers were having a silent conversation right there, in front of him. That actually reminded him of his grandparents for a moment, they did that too…. 

His nerves only increased as his mothers nodded towards each other and turned their heads to look at him with a certain fire in their eyes.  

Then he heard it, Emma yelled “attack!”. As he saw his mothers getting closer to him, magic-ing snowballs in their hands, ready to attack him, there was only one thing on his mind ‘ _RUN’._

Henry turned on his heal, trying his best to get away from his mothers, but it was to no avail. 

Before he could reach the trees and bushes again he felt something, or better said, someone, tackle him. Emma had caught up with him and took him down. They both fell into the snow and Emma managed to hold him down as Regina approached them. 

“So, Henry…...Regina said in her Evil Queen voice, just to scare him a little more, because he really deserved it…you double-crossed you own mothers to win a silly game”. A wicked smile on her face and the magic-ed snowball still in her hand, she bends her knees so she would be on the same level as Emma in the snow. Both hovered over their son now. 

“What do you have to say for yourself young man?”

“Guilty as charged, he said” He knew it was practically suicide, but he had to be the one to lose this round. 

“In that case you deserve this”, and just like that Emma released her hold on him. Both his mothers got up and together they magic-ed an avalanche of snowballs above him, hitting him everywhere, except in the face. 

When the avalanche passed Henry was barely visible under all that snow. Only his head was sticking out of the mountain that had formed on top of him. His mothers couldn’t keep in their laughter; it was just too funny. 

“Who’s sorry now”, Emma said grinning at their son.

“I am”, the defenceless victim answered softly. 

“What was that Henry”, Regina commented while putting her right hand behind her ear and tilting her head a little towards the boy.

“I AM”, I’m sorry, please remove the snow from my body mom, it’s not very cold, surprisingly, but I can’t get up, it’s too heavy.

Emma and Regina looked at each other once more and silently agreed their son had been punished enough. They cleared the snow from his body and Emma helped the kid up. 

“It’s clear that we won this round, Emma, so the next round will just be you against me. But first we’d better check if our groceries are still at the bench where we left them.”

And so they walked back to the bench only to find that there still wasn’t another soul there. 

Regina told Henry to sit and wait right there on the bench next to the bags. He’s wasn’t allowed to play anymore, nor watch his mothers commence the final round… 

And it was going to be an interesting one, because his mothers had agreed that they were allowed to use a little magic against each other. 

Henry didn’t care at all, “ _mission accomplished”._

 

* * *

 

Before the two women went to hide from each other again, Regina walked up to Emma.

“Are you ready Em-mah? I will destroy you if it’s the last thing I do, you know that, right?” As she spoke those words in a low voice, Emma couldn’t suppress a shiver that went from the tips of her toes all the way to the crown of her head. 

Not missing the trembling of the blondes’ body Regina said, “Scared already?” An evil smirk had formed on the former Queen’s face.

Emma quickly composed herself, and retorted with a lot of feigned confidence “Not a chance, bring it on!” _“I hope this will end well for me, Regina is way better at magic. I don’t even have ‘poofing’ under control yet though I have been practicing” …._

“All right, it’s time for the final round to begin, Henry announced. Go hide in the park somewhere, in 2 minutes I will give you the start signal”.

Emma and Regina both moved swiftly in opposite directions, while they could still spot each other, Regina had already formed a plan of attack. As soon as Emma was out of sight, she would double back and go in the direction Emma had followed. She would be the hunter in this little game, she mused to herself.

As Regina made her way back carefully through the trees, she heard the start signal. This made her step up her pace a little. She was determined to find the blond first and then hit her hard and fast with the 5 required snowballs, all for the win. 

Meanwhile Emma had no idea as to how she could make sure to beat Regina. She was heading into the direction of the small clearing, where Regina and her had taken their revenge on Henry. 

Because she had no strategy yet, she decided to climb up a tree again. This time near the edge of the trees, but not too close to the open space. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again and try to cross the clearing again. That had led to her first confrontation with Regina after all. 

She was going to sit this one out, wait patiently, hoping Regina would take on the hunters’ role. She was fairly certain that Regina would, she didn’t have a lot of patience for these kind of things and she was definitely someone that would rather attack than sit around and hide somewhere. The woman’s desire to win was far too great. 

Regina tracked the footprints of the princess in no time. “ _Emma, isn’t always as clever as she thinks she is, she hasn’t even taken the time to hide her prints. This is going to be too easy...”_

Emma had learned from her experience with Henry though, she kept a better eye on any activity near her tree. 

And this time she was in luck, she heard a minor sound, some sort of a rustle in a bush close to her left. Could it be Regina? 

It was Regina, Emma saw a sole of the other woman’s booth sticking out just a little. So without hesitation Emma magic-ed herself a snowball and threw it down to her left.

Regina had spotted Emma just as she released the white orb from het fingers. She had to avoid getting hit, so she ran out of the bush and headed quickly in a zig-zag motion to the clearing.

“Shit, Emma muttered to herself, I missed”, while gritting her teeth. 

But from up in the tree Emma could see where Regina was heading. Emma figured this was a golden opportunity to reverse their roles. And so Emma jumped out of the tree and ran after her target. 

When she spotted Regina, just standing there, in the middle of the small open space, she stopped her running abruptly. _“Why in the world would Regina make herself an easy target? She must be up to something…”_

As always, the former Queen was up to something. She was hoping Emma couldn’t resist going after her, just wait until the blonde’s determination not to approach her caved, because she was certain Emma would be suspicious of her current action. And when Emma would appear in sight she would create a magic snowball canon, to deal with the blonde and then claim her victory. 

After 5 minutes of waiting, Emma finally ran out of patience. “ _What to do now, I can’t bear to wait any longer_ ….” Then an idea formed in her head. She was going to try and do a surprise attack on Regina, with the help of her magic. She just hoped it would work the way she wanted it to. 

Emma stood up straight, closed her eyes, concentrated on the magic within herself, balled her fists in front of her body and thought only of Regina, and how she wanted to ‘poof’ in front of the other woman.

As she felt the magic engulf her, she knew it was going to work. She braced herself for the confrontation and then disappeared…

 

* * *

 

Out of nowhere Regina felt something crashing into her and she fell down on her back in the snow with a thud. 

When she lay down in the snow she felt a weight on her, keeping her form moving. She opened her eyes, only to see that not something had taken her down, but someone.

“Miss Swann, what do you think you’re doing, she berated, looking very annoyed.

Emma was a little shocked with the minor magical mishap that had just occurred. She wanted to appear in **front** of Regina, not on **top** of Regina. 

“ _O my god, I’m straddling Regina”,_ she thought as realization dawned on her. “ _What do I do now?” …_

A little smirk now appeared on the blonde’s face, she was going to take advantage of this mistake. Regina was not in the position to go anywhere. 

Regina looked at Emma’s face, first seeing the shock, then the contemplation, followed by that smirk.

“ _O no, you don’t princess, you’re not winning so easily.”_

Before Emma knew it, somehow, someway, Regina broke lose from her hold on her and now the brunette was on top of Emma. It didn’t go quite as gracefully as the queen had hoped, Emma was strong, but so was she. She wanted to straddle the blonde, like she had just done to her, but instead she couldn’t keep her balance and fell forward.

This caused the women to lie flush against each other. 

Both women could feel the breasts of the other pressing against their own, and heat emanating from each others bodies. Emma’s arms lay beside her, flat on the snow. Regina’s hands however were clutching Emma’s sides just above her hips. 

The former Queen let her head down just a little bit, so her lips were close to Emma’s ear, and she whispered “I told you I would get you, princess”. A warm breath of air escaped her mouth and touched Emma’s ear. 

It was all too much and at the same time, it wasn’t enough. 

Regina raised her head and gazed into the blonde’s eyes. Both were shocked to see dilated pupils, turning brown and green eyes nearly black, filled with want, need, fire, lust and love. 

Their breaths hitched, they both felt heat reaching their centres and a throbbing between their legs.

They couldn’t hold out any longer. Regina wondered how it would feel to kiss the blonde, she wanted to find out desperately. Emma was thinking the same thing; how would those full, mauve coloured lips feel against her thinner, pink ones. 

As both women finally leaned in, feeling their breaths one each others faces, their lips almost touching……. they heard none other than Snow White calling out for her daughter, not too far from them.

Totally destroying the moment, they just shared…...and making Regina jump off of Emma within a heartbeat….

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, Snow White...


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

 

Henry was annoyed. That afternoon, while he was waiting for his mothers to end the game, Snow, David and Neal had arrived at the park. And now there was something wrong…

When they had spotted him sitting on the bench his grandparents decided to join him. 

“Hey Henry, what are you doing here on the bench alone with all those groceries?”, his grandpa, who was carrying little Neal on his shoulders, asked him. 

He shrugged his shoulders and replied “Nothing, just waiting for my moms to finish our competition”.

“What competition?” Snow wanted to know more about this and after moving some of the groceries, she sat next to Henry. 

“I created a new snowball competition, one especially for me and my moms”.

“And why are you sitting on the bench then?”

“I lost the first round, the rules of this game are not the same as the rules of our game together. I was the first to get hit by 5 snowballs “ _Well, more or less anyway”_ , so I’m out, and now it’s Emma versus Regina in the finale. 

“I see, well we were actually looking for Emma. We wanted to get out of the apartment for a bit and were on our way to Regina’s house, so Emma could walk back home with us. Neal missed her yesterday evening when we got home after dinner at Ashley’s, thank God we left early or we would have had the same problem as Emma did.”

Henry and David went to play with little Neal on the swings, because the final round could take a while to end.

Snow however, lost her patience of waiting for the women to return. She wanted to see her daughter. It’s wasn’t just Neal who missed Emma’s presence at home. And she felt concerned for her daughter as she had noticed in the last couple of weeks that Emma was preoccupied with something. Though she didn’t press the issue yesterday, she really wanted to know if her daughter was okay, if she needed help with something or just someone to talk too. And it was in her nature to push a little sometimes. 

So after waiting for 15 minutes in the cold, she went to find her daughter so they could go home, and maybe the exercise of walking through the park would warm her up again. 

As Henry thought about this he wished he would have paid more attention to his grandmother instead of playing with his uncle and grandfather. “ _I could have convinced her to at least let my moms finish the game”_ he thought while gritting his teeth a little.  

When Snow returned with Emma, and Regina following her, Emma walking next to her mother and Regina behind them, he had noticed that while Snow was looking cheerful, his mothers were not. 

He ran towards them “Hey moms, who won the game?” 

Regina answered “No one did Henry, neither of us have been hit by a snowball”.

“Oh, okay…then why are you guys back?” 

“Well, your grandmother here interrupted the game when she found us and then we decided to call it a day.” 

Emma wasn’t going to tell her son that his grandmother actually interrupted something more than just the game. Snow thankfully hadn’t seen the position they were in when she got a visual on the women. Regina was already a few feet away from her, and she herself had been able to get up out of the snow too. 

It was really awkward, and Regina and Emma didn’t even say a word to each other, they just both walked in Snows direction, met up with her and decided to go back to the park bench when Snow told them David, Henry and Neal were playing there. 

After they returned, everyone walked back to the mansion so Regina could get all of her bags home without a problem. And then Emma said goodbye to Henry, who would be staying, by giving him a hug. 

She also said goodbye to Regina, who after entering the house had disappeared to the kitchen to put everything where it belongs, by yelling a goodbye from the hallway. Emma then left with her family to go home.

Henry let out a sigh, his mothers hadn’t even looked at each other anymore after they returned with Snow and they barely said a word to each other. “ _This sucks…. I really felt my operation was going rather well.”_

 

* * *

 

That evening Henry and Regina had a quiet dinner together and Regina told him she was feeling tired around 9 pm, so she would go to bed early. Henry went to his room too, he figured he could read his new comic book before going to sleep. But he really couldn’t concentrate on his reading. His mom had just looked so sad and confused since they came home, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. As he thought about how he could make sure everything would be okay again and cheer his mother up, he only got frustrated even more. He could think of nothing.

When Regina entered her bedroom and closed the door behind her, the first thing she did was letting silent tears fall. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge, bending forward, putting her head in her hands and trying to take some deep breaths. 

“ _I don’t know how to handle this. Today was perfect in every single way, even the strange breakfast, until I had to lose control and nearly kissed Emma. Now our friendship could be ruined for ever, I don’t want to lose her, she is my best friend, my only real friend in this town. I hope she will forgive me…._

As Regina continued her thoughts, she played the events over and over again in her head until an important piece of the puzzle finally clicked “ _But it did look like Emma wanted to kiss me too, I am pretty sure I could even feel her desire to do so, and if I’m not mistaken Emma leaned in to me as well. Perhaps there is hope after all,_ a small smile appeared on Regina’s face for a moment, but as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again.

 _“It’s just impossible, she is the daughter of my (ex-)archenemy, I have done terrible things to her and her family…”_ As Regina thought of a thousand more reasons why she and Emma could never be together in the way she wanted more than anything, her silent tears turned into uncontrollable sobs. She splayed herself on the bed, with her face buried in her pillow to muffle the sound she was making. 

Right at that time Henry walked in the hallway, coming back from the bathroom. As he walked in the direction of his room he noticed someone was crying. He had two choices now. Either just get into bed and leave his mother alone and give her some space, or knock on her door to see what was wrong and perhaps choose a more direct approach for his operation Tiger Lily. 

He chose the latter.

Regina heard a knock on her bedroom door followed by a voice “Mom, can I come in please?”.

She tried to wipe away her tears and stop sobbing but she failed. She considered for a moment to just tell the boy to leave her alone, but she knew he would only be worried so she responded in a small voice, “Yes, Henry you can come in”. 

Henry opened the door and saw the light on the night stand was on and his mother was now sitting on her bed, still fully dressed. She had tears rolling down her face, her eyes were all red and puffy, but she managed to give him a little smile and padded with her right hand on the bed as a sign he could sit next to her, and so he did.

Henry was not going to stand for this any longer. He couldn’t see his mother this distraught over something that should actually make her happy. So he felt it was best to let her know that he knew.

“Mom, I know why you are so sad”, he said with a comforting voice. 

Regina did not expect those words to come out of her son’s mouth, she gasped and turned her head to look at her son only to see him looking back at her with love and compassion.

His mother’s surprised look made him elaborate on his comment.

“I know you like, or just maybe, even love Emma. And I don’t understand why you are so scared and sad. I know Emma likes you too, don’t you see that mom? The way she often looks at you, the way she gives you compliments, how she treats you. You guys make each other laugh, you raise a son together, you enjoy each others company so much. I can even see that when I’m here and Emma is not around you are a little depressed and the same goes for Emma. When I stay with her at the apartment with grandma, Neal and grandpa, she is never as happy as when we spent time with the three of us. I know you must be scared that Emma doesn’t feel the same as you do but she does, for all the reasons I just said, and probably even more.” 

“I understand that you must be scared to act upon your feelings. So is Emma, mom. There are indeed many reasons others can think of why you shouldn’t be together. Some people might feel like you are still a villain, and they don’t want you to find a happy ending with their saviour. But the hell with them. You aren’t a villain any more, you are a wonderful woman, you are smart, you are kind and you love unlike any person I have ever met. You love with all your heart. And if your heart loves Emma, she is only lucky to be the person who it belongs to.” 

“As for my grandparents, they might not accept the idea of you two being together right away, but they know how true love works, they will understand eventually. Maybe they might even surprise you.” 

“I wish you weren’t so scared; I wish you would just talk to ma. You’ve always tried to fight for your happy ending, why stop fighting now, why not be brave once more?”  

As Regina heard Henry speech, she was shocked, shocked to realize Henry figured it out, shocked he thought it might by true love, he knew everything, he knew her like no other. Everything he said is true. He has grown up so much in the last couple of years. It all made her cry even more, but not from sadness this time. No, this time she felt relieved and empowered by her son’s kind and wise words. She felt like if he supported her she could take on the world again, she started to believe in herself, again. She wanted to love again, as Daniel had once told her she should, and be loved, again. She wanted to fight, again, for her happiness. 

She hugged her son for 5 minutes after he ended his hope speech. “ _Funny, he definitely inherited that from Snow”._

After they pulled back from the much needed hug. Regina looked at her son and smiled through her tears. 

“What did I ever do to deserve someone like you in my life?, raising her left hand and cupping Henry’s cheek she, leaned in to give her son a kiss on the crown of his head. I love you Henry, more than anything in this or the other realms”. She let out a sigh, “I think you are right, I should go and try to talk to Emma. I should take a chance. And I will do so first thing in the morning”. 

Henry just smiled and hugged his mother, again.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

In an attempt to keep her mind of what almost happened in the park with Regina, Emma had been playing with her little brother in the apartment since they had arrived back home.

And it was safe to say that it wasn’t working. First she had made a castle with Neal using the wooden blocks Marco had made for him to play with. That had worked a little, but when Neal was done with building the castle he wanted to colour.

Emma was happy to oblige her little brother and fetched the paper and crayons for him. 

As Neal was busy drawing something that looked a little like a train, Emma was just doodling some flowers. She created a gorgeous red rose, some purple violets, a sunflower, and a bright orange lily. 

While doodling, her mind drifted right back to Regina. “ _I can’t believe what almost happened. It scared me, and not just al little, but I couldn’t fight my desire to feel and taste those gorgeous lips on mine. And it really seemed like Regina wanted it too, maybe even more than I. I swear I could feel her desire and there was something in her eyes that captured me, a sparkle of hope in those dark pupils._

_Maybe what Henry said to me this morning in the guest room was some sort of message; I brighter his mom’s day, she cares for me and apparently I make her smile. But that has to be to good to be true right? How could she ever love me? Why would the most beautiful woman in Storybrooke even love me?_

_It all became so awkward after my mother interrupted us. Maybe it was a good thing, maybe it all meant nothing at all, maybe it was just a mistake, a heat of the moment kind of thing. But I would have loved to know what would have happened if my mother hadn’t been there. Maybe it would turn out to be no mistake at all, maybe it would have been one of the best things to ever happen in my life, maybe she can love me, maybe she already does love me…”_

As Emma was sunken in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that Neal had opted to leave the paper on the coffee table for what it was, and was now using Emma’s jeans as canvas. 

She also missed the fact that her father had left the apartment 15 minutes ago and that Mary-Margaret had started to prepare for dinner. 

Her mother had been watching her closely while she sat there, playing with Neal. 

“ _What is going on with my daughter these days. She’s so distracted lately, and even though she tries to hide it, she appears to struggle with something. I can’t wait anymore for her to tell me herself what is going on. I’m going to ask her, perhaps with David gone for a moment she will tell confide in me, I am her mother after all. There is time for a talk, David is busy helping Marco remove some snow from the roof of his workshop, the white cloak was starting to get too heavy, and the roof could cave if something wasn’t done about it.”_

Then she saw what here son was doing to Emma’s jeans, “Emma, your brother is colouring all over your jeans, she shrieked and walked over to the little boy. What planet are you on honey? She asked with concern in her voice. 

Emma was startled by her mothers sudden shrieking and finally saw what the fuss was all about. “Aw, Neal, what are you doing to my pants? She furrowed her brows as she looked at her jeans, and then looked up to her brother again. 

Neal was now in Snows arms, laughing and trying to say that he was colouring. 

“I’m going to put him to bed for a while, he’s looking tired from playing in the park and now with you, I won’t be long and then I would like to talk to you for a moment”. Snow then disappeared to Neal’s room.

 _“O god, I wonder what mom wants to talk about. I have an idea though; she has caught me too many times while I was daydreaming. Should I let her know what has me so preoccupied? Will she even understand if I do? Will she be angry? Would I become the biggest disappointment in her life? Would she even be able to look at me?”_ Emma was getting very nervous by the prospect of this talk with her mother. Perhaps her nerves are unfounded, maybe Mary-Margaret wants to talk about something else entirely. 

 

* * *

 

Within five minutes her mother returned and sat herself down on the couch next to her daughter. She took a breath and asked, “Emma, I have noticed that you have something on your mind and that you seem a bit sad at times, would you like to tell me what is going on with you?”

 _“What should I do? Should I lie to her and just tell her she’s imagining things and that I’m fine? Should I tell her the truth? Or maybe half of it? I don’t think I can keep this charade up any longer, I’m not fine, and Mary-Margaret knows something is wrong. There would be no point in lying to her…_ ” 

Emma looked down at her feet as she tried to answer her mothers question. 

“Well, mom…” She began, and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, before she could continue, “I think I’m in love”.

Not expecting those words to come out of her daughter’s mouth, Snow gasped in shock and said, “O honey, but that is wonderful, why are you so sad then? And who are you in love with? Have you told them? You really should tell them, or ask them out for a date. You know, I believe that if you love someone, really love someone, you should fight for them, fight to be together, just like your father and I did.” Snow just rambled on and on…

Emma wanted to stop her mother so she interrupted her, “Mom, stop, please”.

Snow stopped talking for a moment and then continued “but Emma….”

“Please just hear me out mom”, Emma pleaded while she was still looking at her feet and fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

“The person I’m in love with is truly wonderful, in all possible ways imaginable. She’s kind, and sassy, and beautiful inside and out. She’s strong and smart. A vision to look at. She challenges me like no one else does and no one else can. When I see her I feel nervous and relaxed at the same time. I feel butterflies in my stomach. When I look into her eyes my knees can barely hold me up. She makes me feel amazing, she cares for me, I know that for sure. I don’t know for sure if she loves me like I love her. But I think she might because of what almost happened this afternoon. We almost kissed each other, almost…but then you came looking for us and found us…”

When she looked up to try and get a read at her mother’s reaction to her revealing speech, she saw a stunned Snow sitting next to her, her nostrils flaring a little as if she had trouble breathing, brows furrowed as she was taking in all the things her daughter just told her.

With a tremble in her voice she asked, just for clarification and to be certain she heard correctly, “You are saying that you are in love…. with a woman….and if I understand correctly, that woman is Regina?”

Snow looked right into Emma’s eyes when she asked that question. Her eyes were full of disbelieve. 

“Yes, mom. I’m in love with my son’s other mother. I’m in love with Regina”.

The honesty in Emma’s eyes surprised Snow, she realized this was no joke, this was really happening. Her daughter is in love with her former stepmother, the Evil Queen who had ruined a huge part of her life, making her an outlaw, someone who had to run and hide. Regina’s actions had spurred her and David to give up their daughter for 28 years. This could not be happening?

As the minutes passed, Emma was only getting more nervous instead of relieved that she finally told someone of her feelings. She saw all kinds of expression on her mother’s face, none of them positive. It made her feel small, misunderstood and unwanted again, just like she had left all those years in the foster system. 

Finally, Snow spoke up in a disenchanted tone, “I…. I don’t know what to say Emma”.

“I just don’t understand how this all happened. Maybe you just think you are in love with Regina, because you spent so much time together as friends? Maybe it’s just an infatuation? Some hope shone through those words, making Emma getting very agitated.

“This is no infatuation mom! I really am in love with Regina”, Emma said as seriously as she could. She wanted to cry really. Her mother obviously doesn’t understand or doesn’t even want to try to understand. No it all had to be a mistake, it had to be non-existent. 

“Why are you so freaked out? Emma really wanted to know. Is it because she’s a woman, or because it’s Regina?”.

Snow answered truthfully “I have nothing against you being in love with a woman Emma, it might not be what your father and I had hoped for, but that is not why I’m upset.”

“The woman you are supposedly in love with is the Evil Queen, Emma. She ruined our lives, she can not be trusted, she…. Emma cut her off at that moment.

“Mom, listen to me very carefully. Regina is not the person she used to be, I already told you what kind of a person she is now, she’s amazing. And you of all people should be happy that she has completely turned her life around. It’s what you wanted for her too, you’ve told me so yourself. And now you’re suddenly against her, now she’s a villain no longer. I don’t understand you! Before you knew it was Regina you were all happy for me, you told me I should go for it. You told me to fight for love…”

Emma stood from the couch and started pacing. 

“I love Regina and if that’s too much for you to handle and unacceptable for you then I can’t stay here with you anymore.”

Snow was shocked, would she lose her daughter again. Because of Regina, again? She decided that she needed some time to think this over. Maybe it would be best to take some distance from her daughter. Maybe Emma would come around. So she replied, “I think it might be best if you stay at Grannies B&B for a while, I need time to think and I feel like you do to”.

The cold tone of her mother’s voice and the words that reached her ears hurt Emma, more than she could have imagined. She wanted her whole family in her life, she always has, she wanted to be accepted for who she is and she wanted support from the people she loved most. But it seemed to be impossible right now, so she walked to the door with her head held high, just so her mother wouldn’t see how hurt she truly was, put on her leather jacket, and said “Goodbye Mary-Margaret”. And without looking back, she closed the door behind her, not seeing her mothers sad face and teary eyes.

 

* * *

 

Now Emma walked outside in the cold thinking about what she should do now as tears streamed down her face. She figured going to Grannies wasn’t an option. Knowing Mary-Margaret she would tell Ruby all that had just happened, who would of course tell Granny and before you know it the whole town would know that she was in love with Regina. 

She realized as she reached the park that there really was only one safe haven for her in this town. And that was at 108 Mifflin street. Regina was her best friend, but Emma doubted if she should go there. The woman was the reason of her troubles, but then again maybe also the reason of her happiness. But it was getting kind of late, it was 10:45 pm, Regina would be asleep by now. 

However, staying in the cold wasn’t an option either. Emma thought of all the things Mary-Margaret had said to her and concluded that there was one thing she was right about. 

She should tell Regina how she feels about her, she should take a chance to be happy, she was going to fight.

She finally made up her mind and started walking towards 108 Mifflin street, to the woman and son she loves so very much. With the determination to tell Regina anything and everything.

 

* * *

 

After her talk with Henry and the promise she made him and herself, Regina couldn’t fall asleep. She was way to nervous. How was she going to tell Emma that she loves her? She looked at the time and saw it was nearly 11 pm. She tried to close her eyes again and hoped she would be able to get at least some sleep this night. Just when she started to relax a little, she had to go to the bathroom…” _just great now I have to get up again”._

Regina pushed back her blankets, turned the lamp on her nightstand on and went to the bathroom. 

Meanwhile, Emma who just walked up the path to the mansion saw a faint light seeping through the curtains of Regina’s bedroom. “ _Hm, looks like Regina is still awake. How should I try to get her to the front door? I don’t want to wake up Henry by ringing the doorbell...”_ As Emma was thinking about what to do an idea popped in her head.

When she returned to her bedroom Regina heard a weird noise. She stopped walking towards her bed immediately and tried to see if she had just imagined it. A few seconds later she heard it again.

“ _What is that sound, it’s seems to be coming out of the direction of the window”._

Regina walked up to her bedroom window and opened her curtains a bit to see what was the cause of the noise. She was startled and her heart started racing when she saw Emma standing in her front yard with what appeared to be pebbles in her hand. Regina opened the curtains completely now and also opened her window. 

“Emma, what are you doing out in my front yard at this time of night, throwing things at my window?”.

Emma had to chuckle at the mix of annoyance and concern in Regina’s voice. 

Her amusement was quickly replaced by nerves again however. “I had a fight with Mary-Margaret and she sort of decided that I had to leave the apartment and now I don’t have anywhere to stay.”

Regina now saw that Emma had tear stains on her face and was shivering in the cold outside “ _Why doesn’t she invest in a proper winter coat….”._ She also noticed that Emma called her mother Mary-Margaret again and she felt anger towards the woman who apparently kicked her daughter out of her house on a cold night like this. So Regina responded, “Walk to the front door Emma, I’ll be right down.” And then she was gone.

Emma did as she was told, she was freezing. Her leather jacket was not made to be worn in this kind of weather. When she arrived at the front door of the mansion she could already hear the locks open.

Not a second later the door opened as well and she was facing Regina.

“Please come in dear, it much too cold for you or anyone to be outside.”

Emma entered the mansion and Regina closed the door behind her quickly. 

When Regina turned around and faced Emma she felt nervous and concerned. 

“What happened Emma?, she asked the blonde. Perhaps we should go and sit on the couch for a moment so you can tell me, is that okay?”

Emma just nodded shyly and followed Regina into the living room and sat beside her on the couch.

She looked up and met Regina’s eyes, she took a deep breath and thought “ _Well, it’s now or never, here it goes”._

 _“_ I told my mother about what almost happened between us this afternoon.” She heard a small gasp coming from the woman sitting next to her, but decided she should continue.

“And that is not all I told her, Regina. I told my mother that I’m in love. I told her that I’m in love with this wonderful, beautiful, amazing, kind, strong, snarky, caring and challenging woman. I told her that she makes me weak in the knees when I look at her. I told her that she causes me to feel butterflies in my stomach.” Emma took a breath again and notice tears forming in Regina’s eyes, and continues.

“And now…… now I’m telling you, that you are that woman Regina…you make my heart grow and my mind crazy, I love you….

As Regina heard the words fall from Emma’s lips she let her tears fall. Tears of joy, tears of relief, happy tears because she just heard all the things she wanted to hear, from the right person. From the woman she loves. She tried to wipe her tears away and looked Emma in the eyes and said “I’ve been loving you without you even knowing Emma, I’ve been loving you for quite some time now and I never had the courage to tell you until tonight. I was going to tell you I love you, tomorrow.” She chuckled, “But you beat me to it”. 

“You really love me? Emma asked her with wide eyes. 

Regina smiled, “I really do, I love you Emma”.

For a moment they gazed into each other eyes, seeing the truth behind the words they just said to each other. Both women’s hearts felt like they had just doubled in size, and were beating so loudly they were convinced the other woman could hear it. 

Still facing each other on the couch Regina and Emma started to lean in. When their noses touched softly they tilted their heads a little and closed their eyes. They could feel each others breaths again and then finally felt their lips connecting. It was like magic, it just felt so right. The kiss was soft at first, then Regina started nipping on Emma’s bottom lip. When they let their lips connect fully again, it was Emma who parted her lips a little and grazed Regina’s lips with her tongue, softly asking for entrance to the mouth she wanted to taste so badly. Regina parted her lips in response and soon their tongues met, slowly caressing each other. Emma couldn’t believe how hot Regina’s mouth was, it felt amazing. To try and deepen their kiss even further Emma cupped Regina’s cheek with her right hand, while Regina pulled the blond closer by places her hand on Emma’s nape. When they both were out of breath they parted, leaning their foreheads against each other and smiling widely as they opened their eyes.

All Emma could say was ‘Wow” to which Regina chuckled and replied “Wow indeed, let’s do it again”.   

She didn’t have to say that twice to Emma….

 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 

After kissing passionately a few times more, Regina and Emma were now discussing what happened when Snow learned that Emma loves Regina. Emma lay her head against the brunette’s shoulder and moulded the rest of her body against Regina’s side while she told her everything.

Regina just tried to listen to the woman she loves and put an arm around the blonde for comfort. 

She felt angry towards Snow for treating her daughter the way she did. But she decided it was best for her, and for Emma, to try and remain calm. She could imagine that Snow felt shocked by the news she received from Emma. Regina knew there was a history between her and the Charmings that wasn’t pretty. 

Secretly she had hoped that by now Snow truly believed she had changed for the better in the last four years or so. To her disappointment that didn’t appeared to be the case.

When Emma was finished telling her the story she looked up to see Regina’s reaction.

“I’m so sorry, Emma. I understand you’re angry and disappointed with your mother now, and she deserves it. But I also feel that perhaps Snow might come around. You know of our history, Emma, she could have just reacted out of shock, maybe she just needs a little time to really think about how she feels about this, about us.”

“I can’t believe you are defending my mother?”

“In a way I am, and in a way I am not. I don’t want you to lose your family again, because of me. I’m just trying really hard to imagine how your mother must feel about this. I’m not saying how she handled this is okay, but I am saying that maybe we should give her some time to process all this. I’m not defending Snow necessarily, I’m defending you, I’m defending your relationship with your family.”

Emma looked at Regina in awe and realized yet again that the woman had come a long way since they first met, and it made her love her even more. 

“I hope you are right Regina, I hope she will come around and I really don’t want to lose them. Also you must know that I have never, and will not ever see you as the Evil Queen my mother remembers. To me you are, and always will be, just Regina.”

“Thank you, Emma. You don’t know what it means to me to hear you say that.” 

Emma sat up straight and held out her arms for a hug. Regina let herself fall into Emma’s arms and sneaked her arms around her girlfriend’s waist and rested her hands on the blonde’s shoulder blades, while letting her head fall on Emma’s shoulder and whisper “It will all be okay”. 

When they let go of each other Emma asked Regina “Since when are you so optimistic?”

“Well, you know how I told you that I was going to tell you I love you in the morning?”

“Yes”.

“While you had a talk with your mother, I had a talk with our son.” Emma raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Henry came to me because he heard me crying in my room and told me flat out that he knew I had feelings for you and he also claimed that you had feelings for me. He gave me a wonderful speech about how I should take a chance and be brave and just tell you the truth. Our son convinced me that I deserve a chance at happiness and I promised him that I would be brave and take that chance. He also said that Snow and Charming might not like the idea of us being together, but he’s convinced they’ll come around. He says Snow of all people knows how true love works.”

At this Emma gasped and her eyes widened “He thinks it’s true love? He… knew? He’s okay with this? 

“Yes, he did know. Yes, he is very much okay with this, I even suspect him of trying to bring us together, now I think about it. He invited you to stay for dinner and a movie, he came up with the whole snowball competition and I even believe that he purposely lost and betrayed us both during that first round to ensure we would go up against each other.  And yes, Emma, he believes it’s true love.”

“Regina, you raised a very smart and kind kid, I couldn’t be more grateful to you than I am now. Emma placed a soft kiss on Regina’s lips and smiled brightly at her girlfriend. “And I think he’s right, you know?

“About what, dear?”

I…. I agree with our son, that this is true love. I always felt some connection with you, even when we fought each other. I think we are destined to be together, that we are soul mates. We understand each other like no one else does, well maybe our son does. But the point is, we both have dealt with horrible things that happened in our lives, probably you even more than me, and those things might still occasionally haunt us, but they also made us who we are today. In the end, everything that has happened made us stronger. Everything that happened led us to this very moment, and I feel like we are where we need to be, with each other, with our son, forming the family we always wanted. The family we always deserved.

Regina felt her heart swell at Emma’s words and showed Emma a smile that reached her eyes and let them shine with love.

“I believe that too Emma, I believe you really are my true love. And I promise you that I will always fight for our love.” Regina sealed that promise with a sweat kiss on Emma’s slightly swollen lips.  

At that moment the clock in the living room sounded twelve times, announcing that it was midnight now. 

“Would you be okay with calling it a night? I barely slept last night and today was quite tiresome.” Regina asked Emma.

“No, I’m actually pretty tired myself, I didn’t sleep much last night either and we have had an active and rather eventful day.”

As Regina and Emma were ascending they stairs and reached the top, Regina walked to the right in the direction of her bedroom and Emma walked to the left, to the guest room she had stayed in last night.

When Regina opened her bedroom door, she turned and saw Emma was not following her anymore. She cleared her throat “Emma, where are you going?” 

Emma turned around immediately when she heard Regina speak.

“I’m going to bed?”, she asked questioningly. 

With some hesitation in her voice Regina replied “You could sleep in my bedroom you know? I mean, my bed is more comfortable than the bed in the guest room, and it’s definitely big enough for the both of us. She quickly added “But only if you want to, if it makes you uncomfortable….” 

By that time Emma had already walked up to the brunette and took her hands in her own. “I would never feel uncomfortable with you babe.” _O god, I just called Regina babe…._

Regina noticed some stress in Emma’s face and chuckled, “Babe…I haven’t been called that before, she mused, but I like it”. Emma felt relieved, but soon Regina smirked at her “Now, I just have to think of a pet name for you, dear. I need some time to come up with a good one though”.

“I’m curious to find out what it will be”.

Regina entered her bedroom and Emma followed this time. 

“I will give you the pyjamas I borrowed you last night and you can change in my bathroom over there, Regina motioned towards the other door in her bedroom. “There are some new toothbrushes in the cabinet under the sink, you’re free to pick one”. 

“Okay, thanks”, Emma took the pyjamas and went in the bathroom. When Emma returned she noticed Regina had changed into her pyjamas already. Emma was wearing a silky purple one and Regina one in royal blue. Emma loved that colour on Regina. 

The brunette walked past Emma to the bathroom and now Emma was standing there, alone, in Regina’s bedroom. She suddenly felt nervous again. What side of the bed should she go and lie down on? _“I wish I had asked…now I’m standing here like an idiot…. Take a breath Emma, don’t be so nervous, it’s just sleeping. Yeah, sleeping with the most beautiful woman in the world…but it’s still just Regina.”_

In the time Emma had managed to calm herself down a little, Regina reappeared from the bathroom. Before she could say anything Emma blurted “I didn’t know which side of the bed is yours so now I feel like an idiot for just standing here in your room”.

Regina couldn’t hold in her laugh at the innocent look on Emma’s face. “It’s okay dear, I usually sleep at the right side of the bed, so you can sleep on the left. Is that okay?”

“Yes, perfectly fine”. 

Regina walked to her side of the bed, pushed to covers back and lay herself down. Emma did the same after she had walked over to her side. “ _Wow, soft bed, this is like lying on a cloud in heaven” ..._

Both women were a little nervous now, this was all so new to them. But it was just sleeping, no big deal, right? So Regina gave Emma a light kiss on the cheek and turned off the light.

“Goodnight Emma”

“Goodnight Regina”

 

* * *

 

Ten minutes later…..

 

“Emma, are you still awake?” Regina knew Emma was awake, she could hear Emma’s uneven breathing. 

“Yes, I’m awake”

 “Can I ask you something? Regina said shyly.

“Sure, you can ask me anything”, Emma replied while turning on the light on her nightstand and then turning from her back to her side so she was facing Regina. She gave her an encouraging smile.

“Have you ever been in a relationship with another woman before? Regina’s cheeks turned bright red when she looked up at Emma, waiting for a response. 

Emma wasn’t expecting that particular question, but she would be truthful.

“No, I have never been in a serious relationship with a woman before. However, I did always identify as bisexual, I have been attracted to women before and I have kissed a few. But I’ve never slept with another woman before.” 

Now Emma’s face was red, she never told anyone about her sexuality, not even her parents knew this. She once had told one of her foster parents, but they just sent her away, like all her foster parents always did. So she never ‘outed’ herself again. Besides she didn’t really felt that it was necessary. Emma lived by the conviction that love is love, whether it’s between a man and a woman, or two women, or two men, or something in between for that matter.

“I see”, Regina responded to this new information. 

“What about you, Regina, have you ever had feelings for a woman?”

“No, I have never felt anything remotely close to this, to what I’m feeling for you right now. And you are the first woman I’ve ever kissed. But I’ve always found it wonderful if people found happiness and love in each other, no matter what sex they are.”

“So how did you like it, I mean, kissing a woman?”

To this Regina smirked a little “Well, would I’ve said “wow” and asked for more if I didn’t?”

“You got me there, babe.”

Regina started yawning and put a hand in front of her mouth to cover it up. 

“Come on babe, we really should get to sleep, Emma said and kissed Regina’s temple. 

“Would you lie against me, Emma?”

“Sure I will.” Then Emma turned off the light again.

Glad that Emma would oblige, Regina turned on her side with her back towards Emma, and Emma moulded her body against her, it was a perfect fit. Emma then put her arm round Regina’s waist to hold her close. Both women felt so relaxed now, that they fell asleep within two minutes. 

 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

 

It was Sunday morning and Henry was up earlier than normal. He was very excited at the prospect of his mom going to confess all her feelings to his other mother, and he wanted to help her make a plan of how to do it, if she hadn’t thought of anything herself. 

When he got up and headed downstairs, he expected to smell breakfast but his mother wasn’t in the kitchen or in the living room or even downstairs. He had searched all the rooms. He got this Deja Vu feeling, because yesterday morning his mother had overslept too.

He had learned his lesson though and stayed away from the kitchen. “ _I’m not going to try and make my mom breakfast again after yesterdays total bust. What should I do now? Maybe I should check on her? Nah never mind, it’s still early, perhaps mom has been thinking all night about how she was going to tell Emma that she loves her. I’ll just let her sleep for a while.”_

To distract him from what he still thought would be the next step in operation Tiger Lily, he decided to eat a little cereal and then play a video game. 

Henry was deeply invested in playing Minecraft, when he heard the clock strike 11 am. He paused his game and shook his head. “ _Mom would go to Emma in the morning she said, if she sleeps any longer, morning will be over… I’m going to wake her now, she was up earlier yesterday, this isn’t normal...”_

The boy quietly ascended the stairs, turned to the right at the top and walked towards his moms’ bedroom. He softly knocked on the door, when he read no response he knocked once more. He listened closely, but he couldn’t hear anything. “ _She really must be still asleep”._

Henry decided to open the door just a little to see if his mother was still lying in bed. As he peaked through the crack his eyes widened, first in shock, but then the corners of his mouth pulled up a bit and pretty soon he had the widest grin on his face. He closed the door again, turned around and went downstairs. 

When he arrived in the living room he jumped up, cried out a “YES” and then made a fist pump in the air. He had no clue as to how all of what he just saw with his own eyes had happened. Or when exactly. Though he would have liked to help bring operation Tiger Lily to an end, seeing that it already had made him incredibly happy. 

“ _My ma holding my mom in a sweet embrace in their sleep, I can’t believe I just saw that. They looked so cute. I hope they won’t be kissing a lot in my presence though, I don’t need to see all that, or at least I hope they don’t do it often. But I’m so glad they are finally getting their happy ending”_ He felt like his cheeks were getting a cramp because of the smiling. But he just couldn’t help it. 

 

* * *

 

When Regina finally woke up, her breath hitched for a moment and her heart started beating faster, when she realized that someone was lying in her bed beside her. That someone was holding her, until she remembered what happened last night. She smiled contently and her eyes fluttered open. 

She didn’t know if Emma was awake or not. She placed her hand on the one Emma had still resting gently against her waist. As she started caressing Emma’s hand with her fingers she heard a husky morning voice saying “Good morning”. 

This made Regina turn around to look at the face of her new girlfriend. 

“Good morning”, she said with a small smile. She nestled herself in Emma’s arms so that her head was resting against the blondes’ shoulder and then placed two soft kisses on the blonde’s jawline. Emma in return placed a kiss on the crown of her girlfriend’s head.

Both feeling well rested and happy, they let out synchronized sighs of contentment, which made them chuckle.  

“What time is it?"

Regina lifted her head so she could see the alarm clock on Emma’s nightstand. 

“O my god, Emma, it’s 12:30 pm. We’ve slept for twelve hours straight”, she said slightly panicked, while practically jumping out of bed. 

“It’s Sunday, Regina. It’s not a crime to sleep in, you know?” Emma sat up in the bed now. 

Regina looked at Emma and furrowed her brows, “You’re not funny Emma. We do have a son and he needs a healthy breakfast. I always make him breakfast. I almost can’t believe he didn’t try to wake me up. I would think he would be too impatient to wait until noon. I did tell him I would go and see you in the morning.” She ran her hand through her hair and walked to her closet to select her outfit for the day. “I’ll change quickly and then you can use the bathroom”.

“Okay, Emma muttered to no one but herself as Regina already went in the bathroom. 

She got up out of bed and walked to the place were she had put her clothes. She figured she could change here. She had put on her bra and sweater, well actually it was still Regina’s sweater she borrowed yesterday. When she unfolded her jeans she was reminded of her little brother. She let out a deep sigh while inspecting the piece of clothing. It had stripes of crayon in every direction on it, and in various colours. There was blue, purple, orange, yellow, green, red, brown, black and even pink. She couldn’t understand how she had not noticed her brother doing this kind of damage to one of her favourite jeans. 

“I wanted to ask you what happened to your jeans yesterday”, Regina said playfully as she entered her bedroom again. But not before eyeing her girlfriend’s legs for just a moment. “It’s very creative”, she continued while chuckling.

“Yeah, it’s Neal Art, my brother is a regular Picasso”. 

“You can borrow a pair of mine, if you’d like”.

“Thank you, do you even have a pair of jeans? I mean I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear denim?”

“As a matter of fact I do, let’s see...” Regina walked to her closet and located the jeans she was looking for promptly. “Here you go”.

Emma grabbed the jeans and quickly pulled it on over her boxer shorts. She was surprised as to how high the waist band of the jeans were. “Regina, these look like jeans from the 80’s...”

“Well dear, that’s because they are jeans from the 80’s. I bought those when the curse brought me here. I tried all sorts of different clothing from this world, just to see what I’d feel most comfortable in and to entertain myself a bit.  

“I see, and you have kept all the clothing you ever bought?”

“No, I haven’t, just the things I looked good in or that were comfortable to wear.”

“And in what category do these jeans fall?”

“Both, they fitted perfectly and made my backside look fabulous, she replied with a grin”. 

“O-kay….” 

 

 _“_ Regina?”

“Yes?”

“Were you aware of the fact that you actually gave me a nickname quite some time ago?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Well, sometimes you call me dear, and I’m sort of used to that and I like it, so I don’t see why you should think of something else.”

“Hmmm, you don’t do you, and here I was considering to call you sugar lips because you taste so sweet.” Regina said in a playful tone and added a wink. 

Emma let her mouth fall open slightly “You’ve got to be kidding me”.

“Well, you do taste sweet… No, of course I wouldn’t call you sugar lips, I was just messing with you, dear.” “ _Thought the name would certainly be accurate.”_

 _“_ Good, I’ll use the bathroom now _”._ She walked to the bathroom while stating “I won’t take long”, but soon after that she stopped in her tracks as she realized that Henry might be downstairs already... 

“Regina, what are we going to tell Henry, I mean he might be up already and be downstairs. It would be strange if we just came downstairs together, right?”

The brunette considered Emma’s comment for a moment.

“I think I’d better go downstairs already and see if he’s up. I can start making us breakfast. I won’t tell him anything about what happened last night yet, I would rather do it together with you when you join us.”

“Sure, I’ll see you in a moment then.”

 

* * *

 

Regina could hear the gaming noises coming from the living room as she descended the stairs. Henry was apparently very much awake. When she walked into the living room, Henry, who was sitting on the couch in front of the TV turned around. He had heard the distinct clicking of his mother’s heels and knew Regina had entered the room. 

“Good morning Henry, she said while smiling at her son”.

“Good afternoon mom, he replied with a smirk on his face.”

“You’re right, it is past noon already. I’m sorry I overslept Henry. I hope you aren’t famished by now. I’ll start making breakfast…or lunch…right away. What would you like to have?

“Don’t worry about it mom, I might not be able to cook myself breakfast yet, but I do know how to mix some cereal with milk, you know. For lunch I would like to have a grilled cheese, please. 

Regina never agreed that a grilled cheese could be classified as a proper lunch, but Henry had asked nicely and she did neglect to make him breakfast, and she had Emma here, so grilled cheese would be welcomed by two people. 

“Alright, grilled cheese you will have.” Regina turned around and headed to the kitchen. Her son, who had put his game on pause, quickly raised himself from the couch and followed his mother.

Regina had told him nothing about the presence of Emma in the house and that bothered him a little. He was going to make his mom sweat, just for the fun of it. 

As his mom was collecting all the ingredients for the grilled cheese she would make for her son, and her girlfriend, she also got a couple of eggs to make an omelette for herself, with some toast and turkey bacon. There was just no way that Regina Mills was having a grilled cheese for breakfast, or lunch, whatever you want to call it. 

Henry noticed that his mother took more ingredients than needed for just his lunch. “ _Perfect moment to start my little game”._

“Did you sleep well, mom?, he asked as innocently as possible”.

Regina looked up at her son, nodded her head lightly “Yes, I did”.

“I thought you might have had a restless night because of what you are going to do today.”

He saw his mother panicking a little, “You know, going to Emma and telling her how you feel. Have you come up with a plan? How are you going to do it? Did thinking about it keep you awake? Is that why you overslept? Are you nervous? Do you need help with a plan?

It was beginning to become to much for Regina to handle.

“Henry, please stop with all the questions!” Her voice sounded a little agitated and she glared at him. 

“Please let me make breakfast (or lunch) in peace. We will talk about Emma in a moment.”

“Speaking of lunch, why are you making so many grilled cheeses? Are you going to try and seduce ma with food when you are going to see her? Food is the way to the heart you know, so good thinking. 

Regina let out a huff. “ _My son can be so sweet, but sometimes he really acts like a teenager.”_

Henry just continued, “You know, I did plan on waking you up, but I changed my mind when I saw you sleeping”.

Regina stopped everything she was doing and froze.

“You…you entered my bedroom? A concerned look showed on her face. 

“No, not really. I knocked two times but I heard no answer, so I figured you must still be asleep. I wanted to wake you up so you could actually go and see Emma in the morning. I opened the door a little and just glanced into your room from the hallway.”

The huge grin on her son’s face let Regina know immediately that Henry, yet again, knew everything. Or almost everything. 

“What I saw then, made me decide to just let you guys be. My operation Tiger Lily obviously was a success and had ended before I knew it”, he stated matter-of-factly. You looked so peaceful together. I’m so happy that you are together now. I mean, you are together now, are you? How did that happen?

“Kid, please!”, Emma said as she entered the kitchen. She had heard most of the mainly one-sided conversation between Regina and their son. 

“Don’t be so nosy and quite giving your poor mother the third degree here. She looks as if she is about to faint”. Emma walked up to her son and ruffled a hand through his hair. 

“Sorry… _”but not sorry”…._ moms. I am just terribly excited about all this. I mean, both of my parents being together, getting along, loving each other. It’s basically every kids dream come true. I love you guys so much and I’m so happy that we can be a real family now.

Before he knew it his mothers engulfed him in a hug. 

When they let go, Emma remarked “So, operation Tiger Lily…care to explain that one Henry?”

“Well, it was the code name for my mission to bring you two together. I have seen the signs of your love for some time now, especially with mom. And Friday I was finally convinced that ma had the same kind of feelings. So I decided that you needed to spent even more time together in the hope that one of you would find the courage to speak up. That’s why I sort of invited you to stay for dinner ma, and also why I purposely deceived both of you during the snowball match.”

“I knew it, Regina exclaimed.”

“Yes, you did babe, Emma responded and grabbed Regina’s hand and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.”

“Not in front of Henry, dear, she replied while a blush was creeping up her neck”. 

“Yeah, not in front of Henry, dear, you better listen to babe” Henry said with a smug face. He just couldn’t resist to tease them a bit. Soon he doubled over laughing at his own stupid comment, he thought he was being quite funny. And the incredulous looks on his mother’s faces were pure gold. 

“Henry, could you please behave yourself”, Regina scolded. 

Emma however could appreciate her son’s humour and started laughing with him.

“Great, now I have two teenagers in my home”, Regina added an eye roll at that. 

 

* * *

 

Emma was very grateful for the grilled cheese Regina made for her. She had left the apartment yesterday without having had any dinner, so she was hungry. 

The three of them were now sitting at the table having their breakfast/lunch. And by now they had told Henry how Emma came to be there at the mansion. Henry was somewhat disappointed when he heard that his grandmother hadn’t received the news that Emma had feelings for his mother very well. 

“She’ll come around moms, I just know it.”

“We hope so Henry, we really do, Emma said, “But she’ll have to make the first move if she truly wishes to make amends. I won’t do it.”

Henry nodded in understanding. His grandmother had hurt his ma very much, he just hoped that she would realize this sooner rather than later. 

When they finished breakfast and cleaned up the dishes, they were just about to discuss what they would do the rest of the day when they heard someone knocking on the door…

Regina decided she would go and see who it was. As she opened the door she saw David standing there. 

 

“Hello Regina.”

 

“Hello David.”

 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

_As she opened the door she saw David standing there._

_“Hello Regina.”_

_“Hello David.”_

 

“Is my daughter here?”, David said in an unexpected calm, but slightly worried manner.

 **“** Yes, she is.” 

Relief showed on his face, “Well, could I come in and have a talk with her?”

Regina didn’t get the chance to respond to the question. Emma and Henry had heard David’s voice and they stood behind Regina now. 

“I only want to talk to you if you’re not going to dismiss everything I told Mary-Margaret yesterday. Or treat me the way she did. I assume she has told you what happened?”. 

Her father noticed that his daughter was trying to sound and look strong, but he could still see the pain yesterdays event must have caused his little girl all over her face. 

David nodded, “Yes, when I got home your mother was crying, and you were gone.” It took me a while to get her to calm down and tell me what happened, but I know. I’m not here to drag you back home, or to yell at you, or to tell you…. He hesitated for a moment, he didn’t know for sure if his daughter had told Regina about the feelings she has for her. He didn’t know if they were still good friend or possibly more at this time.

He sighed, “I just really wish to talk to you, please?”.

Regina looked at Emma and silently asked if she would approve if she let her father in. Emma nodded.

“Come in David, you and Emma can go into my study to talk in private.”

“Thank you”. David stepped inside and took of his coat. Henry took the coat from his hands and put it away for his grandfather. 

“Henry, would you mind going upstairs to your room for a moment? Your grandfather and I need to talk, and I want your mom to join the conversation too. 

Henry knew that Emma wanted some privacy, so he didn’t ask any questions and just headed upstairs.

Confused Regina looked at Emma and asked, “You want me to stay for your talk with your father?”

“Yes, because this isn’t just about me”, she responded and then took Regina’s hand and walked into the living room.

David just followed and noticed that his daughter took the former Evil Queens hand in hers. 

“We don’t need to go to the study”, Emma guided herself and Regina to the couch in the living room and sat down, she then gestured to her father to take a seat in the chair that was positioned askew to the left of the couch. David turned the chair a bit before he sat down on it, so he was facing Emma and Regina. 

For a moment there was nothing but silence to be heard, and tension to be felt in the room. 

David cleared his throat “So, it is safe for me to assume that you told Regina everything? I mean since your holding hands, and you wanted to her to join our talk?”

“Yes, I told her exactly why Mary-Margaret got so upset with me. I told her that she is amazing and that I love her. And the best thing is, she loves me too.” At that last sentence Emma had taken her eyes off of David and turned to face Regina, to give her a loving smile. 

As he took in the scene in front of him, he recognized the way the two women looked at each other. He saw love, maybe even true love. And it wasn’t the first time that he had seen this. David had had some suspicions before as to how Regina and Emma felt about each other. He had noticed through the years how close they had gotten. And he knew that that wasn’t just for the sake of his grandson. He knew his daughter and Regina truly cared for each other, liked, each other and needed each other in their lives. It was the small things that made him realize that they might even love each other. A touch here, a glans there, and all the things they did together. He was no fool, nor blind, unlike his wife. The connection between Emma and Regina was not invisible to him. 

At first he couldn’t really believe what he thought he saw, but over time everything became so clear, there was no denying it, and after a while he didn’t even want to. He had seen that Regina truly had changed, and he saw how her presence made his daughter happy. He didn’t want to stand in the way of his daughter’s happiness, he didn’t want to stand in the way of true love. Even if it meant he had to accept Regina, the ex- Evil Queen, his former greatest enemy, into his family. That woman didn’t exist anymore.

“Good”, David responded to what Emma said a moment ago and gave her a sincere smile.

Both Emma and Regina’s mouths fell open at that. They looked at each other, both with confusion on their faces, and then back at David. 

This made David chuckle. 

He put his hand on Emma’s knee while leaning forward in his seat and continued “I’m happy for you, baby girl. You might be surprised to hear me say that, but in the end all a father wants for his children, all a parent should want for their children, is that they find happiness. 

“If your chance at the same happiness that I have found with your mother, lies with Regina then I accept that.” 

The sincerity in his voice moved Emma to tears, this was better than she could have ever imagined. This was how a parent should support their child. Maybe all was, indeed not lost, maybe everything would be okay. Just like Regina told her. 

As Emma let go of her girlfriend’s hand, she stood from the couch. David in turn rose from the chair. They closed the distance between them and fell into a hug. Emma resting her head on her dad’s shoulder and her arms around his waist. David let his chin rest on top of his daughter’s head and held the back of Emma’s head and neck with his hands. 

Emma said, between sobs, “Thank you, dad, I love you.”

“I love you too, baby girl”. 

When they broke the hug, Emma wiped away her tears and they both retuned to their seats again

“But what about mom? What did you tell her?”

“I told your mother how I feel about the matter after she was done with telling me what happened. She was…surprised, just like you two are. But I told her I had seen this coming for a while now, and that I’m okay with it. Because I had some more time to get used to the possibility of you and Regina being together, I am as calm as I am now. I had already accepted the fact that there was love between you two. Unfortunately, I have never spoken of my suspicions with your mother and unfortunately she hadn’t noticed anything at all. So that’s why she was so shocked.”

“I told her she shouldn’t have reacted the way she did. That she should have taken the time to get her head around the idea first, let it all sink in for a while. Not judge so fast and hard.” 

“I believe she did realize she overreacted before I spoke to her. She said she just lost her daughter, and that it was her own fault. She really regrets freaking out about this, and all that she has said or insinuated.” 

“Then why didn’t she come here, to tell me?”

“She wasn’t sure if you would want to see her, and I failed to convince her to come with me looking for you.” He gave his daughter an apologetic smile. 

“We were worried about you, you know. I called Granny’s B&B last night three times to check if you were there. After that I figured that you must have gone to Regina and Henry since you spent the night before here as well.” 

“She did however ask me to tell you that she is truly sorry, and that she hopes that she will get the chance to tell you in person. That’s is also why I may invite both you and Regina to dinner tonight at 7. She doesn’t only wish to apologize to you, but also to Regina because of the things she said about her. O, and Henry is invited as well of course.”

Regina raised an eyebrow when she heard that Snow White herself wanted to apologize to her. She would not want to miss that for the world. But she was mostly considering accepting the invitation for Emma. She honestly wanted Emma and her mother to make things right. She hated that Emma was hurting. 

Emma was surprised to hear her mother wanted to apologize to both her and Regina too. She figured her mother must truly regret her words. 

Regina took Emma’s hand and squeezed it softly. Emma knew that meant that Regina and Henry would be going with her to this dinner if she accepted the invitation. So she did.

“Okay, dad. Tell mom that Henry, Regina and I will join you guys for dinner.”

“Great, David then rose from his chair again. I will go home and tell her, so she can start with the preparations.”

As he made his way back to the front door, Emma and Regina followed. Emma went to get her dads coat, leaving Regina alone with David for a moment.

He now looked Regina straight in the eyes. “Regina?”

“Yes, David?”

“You should know that if you hurt my daughter, I will destroy you, if it’s the last thing I do…” 

He then started to smile at the woman who was looking at him incredulously. Then he put his left hand on her right shoulder and said “It’s my job as a father to strike some fear in the person who is dating his daughter, you know”, and then winked at her.

Regina now understood what just happened. She received fair warning to discourage her from breaking Emma’s heart, like some teenage boy who was taking someone’s daughter on a date.

She smirked at the taught, “ _The insolence of the Shepard to treat me like this and using my own one liner against me, but I can appreciate the fact that he wants no harm to befall his daughter”._

“I wouldn’t dream of it David; I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Then Emma returned with David’s coat and after he put it on and said goodbye to his daughter and Regina, he left. 

 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 

After David had left the mansion, Henry came back downstairs. He heard the front door opening and closing and considered this as his cue that it was safe to join his mothers again. 

“Hey moms”, he greeted enthusiastically when he noticed that Emma was looking quite happy. “The talk with grandpa must have gone well”. 

“Hey, kid”.

“So I take it that grandpa didn’t come here to try and “talk some sense into you”? I mean, you look relieved and happy so I guess he is not so freaked out about you guys being together?” Henry started pointing between Emma and Regina and was rambling a bit. 

“No Henry, my dad took the news far better then I could every have imagined. Now I think about it, he said that he had his suspicions for a while regarding my feelings towards Regina and hers towards me. Much like you did, kid. Makes me wonder who else in this town might suspect something.”

When Emma thought about the other people in this town she continued “O god, I really hope that my mother has kept this whole fight private. I’m not ready to share this with all those people, who knows what they will say.”

“Can I derive from that, that you are ashamed of being with me?” Regina now joined the conversation and looked a little hurt. 

“No, of course not Regina. Emma ran a hand through her long golden locks and then took Regina’s hands in hers. I just, well…this is just so new. I mean, not my feelings for you, but to have those feelings reciprocated. I would love it if we had the chance to be able to enjoy this in peace, without other people butting in or throwing their opinions at us.”

Regina looked down to their joined hands and then back up at Emma, smiling. “I understand, but knowing your mother, she likes to blab. Which means I don’t believe that we get the chance of keeping this quiet for a little while and just being able to enjoy this, in peace, as you say.”

Emma groaned for a moment, “You’re probably right, but still I hope she only discussed the matter with my dad.”

“I have to say, that your father has surprised me today, perhaps he is not such an idiot after all.” A small smirk formed on Regina’ face when she recalled she loves calling those Charmings idiots. 

“Hey, that’s my dad your talking about”, Emma tried to sound insulted but couldn’t keep up the charade long and smiled. “You know, I can’t believe you are willing to put up with my mother and father, just for me. You must really love me”, a confided grin now splayed on Emma’s face.

Regina pulled Emma a little closer to her and rested her forehead against her girlfriend for just a moment and then gave her a soft peck on the lips. When she pulled back with a smile she responded, “I really do love you, very much”. 

“I love you too”. As Emma was about to lean in again, they heard someone shrieking behind them.

“Hello moms, I’m still in the room you know. Try to minimize the PDA in the presence of your son, thank you very much.” Henry said while waving with his arms widely to get their attention.

“Sorry, kid, we will try not to scar you too much with our PDA, Emma told her son while rolling her eyes at him. 

Regina just shook her head and added, “But you do realize that this is partly your fault, Henry. You wanted us together and I am not going to refrain from kissing my girlfriend when I want to at all times, just because you’re in the room. So you just have to get used to seeing the occasional display of affection between us.”

“Yeah, I know that. I didn’t mean it like that, but just don’t like, do it all the time.”

“That we won’t and I can agree with”. 

“O yeah, I forgot to tell you that my dad invited all of us for dinner at the apartment tonight, so my mother could apologize for how she behaved last night. Your mother and I have accepted the invitation, so we’ll have to be there by 7 pm.”

“Okay, cool. I am impressed that grandma wants my mom to be there too. See, I told you that everything was going to work out”, he said with a smile.

“Well, I certainly hope so kid, we’ll see how it goes tonight. Now I suggest that we continue to discuss what we are going to do with the rest of our afternoon until then. It’s already a quarter past two which means we have about four hours to kill before we must start walking though the snow to be there on time. So any of you have a suggestion?”

“There’s not much we can do”, Henry thought out loud, while tapping his pointer finger against his chin trying to mull over the things they could do. “We could watch a movie again, but we already watched one Friday night. We could also start our second snowball fight for the competition”. To that suggestion his mothers groaned and shook their heads. 

“Not today kid, I’m still tired of all the exhausting physically and mentally draining activity from yesterday.”

“Yes, I agree with Emma, I am still feeling a little tired from not sleeping at all one night, and sleeping too long today.” 

“Okay, I see I’ve got a couple of old ladies standing in front of me, that’s fine, we’ll do something else.”

“Hey kid, I am not an old lady, Emma said while pointing towards herself. I am only 32. And your mother is not an old lady either, what is she? I guess you’re about 39?”

“You know it is not very polite to ask a woman about her age? Regina said playfully, but you are correct.”

As Henry was considering this, he thought it would be funny to correct Regina and Emma on that point. 

“Actually no, I mean you were about 35 years old when you casted the curse, add 28 years to that, plus the 4 years Emma has been here in Storybrooke and you’re really 67 years old.”

Regina and Emma both gasped when Henry said the number 67. Regina, because she never wants to be reminded of how old she technically really is. And Emma because she never thought about this fact until her son just pointed this out to her.

“So there really is an old lady among us, Henry decided to close his argument with that. He looked at his mom and saw her glaring daggers at him. Making Henry suddenly starting to head for the stairs and running a little as he yelled “I forgot I still had some homework left, so I’ll be in my room doing that”. And then he was out of sight. 

=============================================================================

An awkward silence filled the hallway where Regina and Emma were still standing. Emma broke the silence by stating, “I guess we have to figure out something to do with just the two of us?”

Regina let out sigh, “Henry was right you know, I am an old lady. The curse prevented my body from aging for 28 years, so I have the body of someone who is 39 years old now, but technically I indeed am 67”, She said downhearted and looked at her feet.

“Regina, please look at me”, Emma asked in a soft tone of voice. When Regina didn’t move, Emma stepped in front of her and took her by the shoulder and brought her free hand to the other woman’s chin. She gently lifted Regina’s head so their eyes could meet. A pang of hurt shot through Emma’s body when she saw the brown eyes she loves so much look so sad and misty.

Emma smiled lovingly at her girlfriend, “Babe, it really doesn’t matter to me, at all. You must believe me. I wouldn’t care if you’d technically be a 1000 years old. I didn’t fall in love with you because of your age. Who cares if you’re 67, you definitely don’t look like an old lady and you don’t act like one either. Besides, I chose to be with you. Sure I didn’t have much influence on my feelings towards you, but letting you know I have them and wanting a serious relationship with you was my choice. And I would choose you time and time again if I had to.”

A tear now fell down Regina’s left cheek and Emma moved the hand she had on Regina’s shoulder to wipe it away. Now her hand cupped the brunette’s cheek. 

Regina leaned in to the touch, “You do have a way with words on occasion, thank you, Emma.”

Emma grinned, “Thanks and you’re welcome”. 

Emma placed a soft kiss on Regina’s lips and when she pulled back she wanted to ask again what they would do now. Before she had the chance Regina pulled her back in with some force, causing their bodies to press against each other. Regina placed her hands around Emma’s waist and captured a lip between her own. Emma was happy to return the kiss and didn’t notice they where moving towards the wall in the hallway until she felt her body being pressed against it.

Regina now pinned Emma to the wall with her body and placed her hands on each side of Emma’s head. She let go of Emma’s bottom lip to catch her breath and look up in Emma’s eyes. When she saw the surprise and enjoyment on her girlfriends face she leaned in again. This time parting her lips a little more and letting her tongue slide over the blonde’s lips. As Emma parted her lips to allow Regina to deepen the kiss she felt a hand raising the hem of her sweater and soft, warm fingers making their way up higher, in a slow pace, over her abdomen. Regina enjoyed the feeling of Emma’s slightly sculpted abdomen and let her fingers rake over the muscles. As their tongues fought for dominance, both women revelled in the feeling of their hot mouths against each other. Regina breathed in through her nose so she wouldn’t have to break the kiss and loved that she could smell cinnamon, smell Emma. Emma did the same and was intoxicated by the smell of apples. A perfect combination. 

When Regina’s hand reached the blonde’s bra, she cupped the breast that was covered by it. Emma let out a moan that was captured by Regina’s mouth. The sound made Regina feel heat coursing through her whole body. Emma, in her turn, was about to surrender to her girlfriend, when she realized she really wasn’t ready for this to go further yet, and that Henry was upstairs. It wasn’t easy, but she put one of her hands on Regina’s stomach a pushed softly. This made Regina step back and break the kiss. 

Seeing the questioning look on Regina’s face, Emma explained, “Babe, as much as I love you, and as much as I love how you make me feel when you kiss me like this...I really had to stop it now, or I don’t know for sure if I could anymore, and Henry is just upstairs and I don’t think I’m ready for more yet.” A blush had formed on her face during the kiss and now it just turned an even deeper shade of red.

Regina smiled in understanding, “I am glad you had the strength to do so, I was getting a bit carried away. Now Regina began blushing heavily, “And I don’t think I’m ready either.”

Emma nodded and took Regina’s hand, come let’s go take our coats and we’ll go into the garden. With a chuckle she added “So we can cool off a bit”. 

=============================================================================

Henry had joined his mothers in the garden half an hour later. He’s didn’t really have much homework and when he was done with the last few math problems he had to solve he felt like he should apologize to his mom. When he found his mothers in the garden he saw Emma was apparently building a snowman and Regina was just watching her. 

He walked up to Regina first and took her hand. She looked to the left to see her son was now standing next to her. 

“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings before I went upstairs”, he said and looked his mother in the eyes.

“Well, calling your mother an old lady doesn’t deserve an award, but I forgive you. It is true in a way...”.

“That maybe so, but I shouldn’t have said it anyway. I thought it would be a funny thing to point out, but now I realize it wasn’t.”

She smiled at her son, “Maybe it is a little funny or at least a strange fact, but try not to mention it again.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t”.

“Hey kid, wanna join us and build a snowman?”

“Sure”.

The rest of the afternoon Henry, and after a while even Regina, helped Emma to build her snowman.  
They really had a good time and laughed a lot together. When they were done, they all went inside for some hot chocolate, and soon it was time to leave the mansion and head for the Charming’s and Emma’s apartment. 

=============================================================================

As they were walking to the apartment it started snowing lightly again.

“I hope this doesn’t become worse or last long, or I might just have to make calls tonight that the schools and other public services will be closed, Regina stated with a frown on her face.  
“It’s already impossible to drive a car at the moment and I would hate to see it becoming to dangerous to walk as well.”

“It’s probably going to be fine, Regina.”

The apartment was in sight already and Emma felt a bit nervous at the prospect of seeing her mother for the first time after their fight. But she was exited to hold her little brother again and seeing her dad. 

“It was as if Regina had read her mind and just before they entered the building she said, “It’s going to be fine, Emma, don’t worry. I will try to be on my best behaviour too.” Emma squeezed the hand of her girlfriend she was holding, as a thank you. 

Meanwhile Henry was already on his way up the stairs and his mothers followed. When they reached the front door of the apartment, Henry knocked on the door.

A few moments later they were greeted at the door by David. “Hey guys, I’m glad you made it. I just saw that it’s snowing again outside. Come in.”, he gestured for them to enter the apartment. 

“Your mother is still busy with dinner as you can see”. They indeed could see Mary-Margaret running it the kitchen area, stirring one pan after the other in a frantic pace. 

“If you ask me, she is overdoing it a little. She insisted on making a three-course-meal”, David just shook his head a bit and continued “But please don’t tell her I said that. She just wants to impress you both”. 

Regina looked at Mary-Margaret in the kitchen, she obviously hadn’t even noticed they had just entered the apartment. It was amusing to see Snow so busy slaving away for them and panic kicking in when a pot started to boil over. She couldn’t help but smirk a little.

Emma saw the look on Regina’s face and hissed at her “Best behaviour, remember...”

“O, I remember dear, but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to enjoy this.”

Henry decided to announce their presence to his grandmother by raising his voice a bit “Hello grandma, were here.”

That made Snow look up at them and give them a small, unsure smile. “Dinner will be ready in a minute; you can sit down at the table already. I will join you soon.” Then she went right back to the cooking. 

David gestured toward the table and seated himself at the head of the table, Emma to his right, Regina next to Emma and Henry across from Regina, so there would be a place for Snow in-between her husband and grandson.

“Neal unfortunately was feeling a bit ill, he has a slight temperature so we had to put him down to bed already,” David said with a hint of concern for his son’s health in his voice. 

Snow then came with the first couple of plates of food, and added to what her husband said, “I just wish I knew how I could bring his fever down.”

Regina responded to that, “Be sure that he drinks enough water, that will help bring his temperature down.”

Pleasantly surprised to hear Regina giving good advice, she smiled at her former step-mother, “Thank you for your concern, I will remember that”. Then Snow went to fetch the last plates of entrees. 

When she returned and provided everyone with food and something to drink, she sat down. She looked at Emma and Regina and wasn’t sure how to start her apology, even though she had rehearsed it at least a hundred times. 

“Before we start to eat, there is something I would like to say to you both.”

“I’m really sorry, about everything I said, and how I treated you, Emma. I behaved badly and there is no excuse for that… I also wanted to apologize to you, Regina, because even though you were not here, I did say some things about you that I really shouldn’t have. Snow smiled an apologetic smile at the two women sitting across from her. 

“I truly am sorry, I just freaked out, I was not expecting Emma to say what she did…I was just….’

Seeing Snow struggle to find her words Regina couldn’t help but ‘help’ the woman.

“You were just being an idiot”, she filled in the blank Snow created and was feeling quite pleased with herself.”

This comment earned her a glare from Emma, a smile from Henry, a quirked eyebrow from David and best of all an annoyed look on Snows face.

It was quiet for a moment before Snow replied, “Yes, you’re right, I was being an idiot”, Snow conceded. “I was going to say that I was being irrational, shocked, insensitive, selfish and surprised, but idiot covers it too, I guess...”.

Regina was shocked to hear Snow actually agreeing with her. Snow calling herself an idiot, it made her day. She even thought this dinner wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

Emma couldn’t keep it together despite her attempt to not start laughing out loud at the scene between her mother and her girlfriend. Her soft chuckle turned into full out laughter, and soon the rest started laughing with her.

When they had calmed down a bit, Emma looked her mother in the eyes, “Apology accepted, mom. Regina helped me understand that perhaps you needed some time to wrap your head around the idea of me loving her and that you would probably come around.”

Snow didn’t believe her ears, Regina Mills, had defended her, at least in a way? 

She looked at Regina, “Thank you, it’s still no excuse for my behaviour though. I should have just tried to not react and judge as soon as I did.”

“I already regretted everything when you walked out the door, Emma”, she said and turned her head to face her daughter again. 

“Well, I think we should just move on now. I know you mean what you’re saying now. I just want to say that I’m glad you revised your opinion on the matter. I mean, you do support me now, right? Emma really wasn’t sure if an apology also meant that her mother now also accepted the fact that she and Regina were romantically involved.

Snow sighed, “Well, I have to be honest with you and say that it still feels a bit strange, but I am definitely not against it and if your hearts truly lie with each other, then who am I to stand in the way? If your love is true, then I wouldn’t even want to be against it. In my life there have been enough people who wanted me and my true love never to find each other and I don’t want my daughter to go through that.”

Hearing this, Regina felt guilty, Snow was not only referring to King George, but also to her, when she was still the Evil Queen. She had played her part in making Snows live miserable and difficult.

Snow saw the look on Regina’s face and quickly added, “I don’t mean that to be a reproach to you, Regina. I just want you to know that I do believe that true love should prevail and never be denied. And that I know it feels terrible and hurts when you’re denied thing all humans in the world want most, to be loved. I do know that you’re not the Evil Queen anymore, Regina. You have changed, in all the right ways, just like Emma tried to tell me yesterday. I want you to be happy, I’ve always wanted that for you, and if you are happy with my daughter then I accept that. 

“Thank you, Snow. I really appreciate that you are still willing to have faith in me, even after everything that has happened between us. I want you to know that I love your daughter very much and I consider myself a very lucky woman, because she loves me back.”

The old enemies both nodded and smiled to each other.

“So, can we eat now that everything is resolved? Henry said while eyeing his delicious looking entree, that consisted of a light salad with chicken and a curry dressing. 

David answered the boy, “Yes Henry, we can finally dig in”. 

And so everyone started to enjoy their meal.

Regina leaned over to Emma, and whispered in her ear, “He so inherited your appetite”. That only made Emma smile widely, and both women admired their teenage son eating as if his life depended on it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

When the three-course meal was over David and Henry went to play a game at the coffee table, while Emma and Regina helped Snow clear the table. 

“You two can go and join David and Henry, just let me do the dishes”, Snow said. 

“No, mom, you already worked so hard on dinner, please, let Regina and I do the dishes for you.”

Regina quirked an eyebrow at Emma when she heard that offer, but she decided not to say anything about it. She didn’t really feel like doing the dishes for Snow, but the woman obviously had put a lot of effort in the meal she just had. It was very nice, but Regina was convinced that Snow’s cooking skills could never match her own.

Dinner had been quite pleasant, even Regina had to admit that to herself. They hadn’t talked about her relationship with Emma anymore, but mostly made small talk. 

When Emma and Regina had finished with the dishes and Emma was putting everything back where it belongs, Regina decided to take a look outside. While making her way to the window she could already see that it was still snowing, and heavily. 

Regina sighed, “Emma, I have to make some calls and make an announcement via the radio and other channels that I will close all public offices and the school. Just look at this”, she gestured towards the window in front of her. 

As Emma came to stand in front of the window and looked outside she could see that a lot of fresh snow had fallen from the sky and that a blizzard was raging. “I see; as the sheriff I agree with that decision.” Emma turned around, “How are you going to get to your office to make the announcement? You can’t walk through this storm.”

“That’s true, I will have to ‘poof’ myself to city hall. I have to go now, while it’s not too late for all the townspeople to hear the message. I’ll be back when I’m done.”, and with that Regina was gone.

“Hey, where did mom just go?”, Henry had seen his mothers talking on the other side of the room and his mother disappear.   
Snow and Charming turned around when they heard Henry say Regina was gone and now three people were staring at her with questioning looks on their faces. 

“Regina is just going to her office in City Hall, so she can let’s the townspeople know that she will be closing the school and all public offices tomorrow. There is a blizzard raging outside in case you haven’t noticed.”

Henry’s eyes widened, “Really, no school tomorrow?”. 

“Yes kid, no school for you tomorrow, and depending on the weather the school could be closed for more then just one day.” 

“Cool, I love school, but wouldn’t mind a short vacation.”

“Neither do I”, Mary-Margaret said. “It gives me time to take care of Neal myself, now he’s sick.” 

“How should I handle this, Emma. I know you already have this week off and I am responsible for the sheriff’s station. Should I go into work anyway?” David asked his daughter.

“Well, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to go to the station. I don’t see how there could be a crime wave with this weather. You have already connected the emergency phone to your own cell, haven’t you?

“Yes, like always”.

“Then just stay in as well, and only go out if someone calls with an emergency. If you should need backup you know you can always call me, even though I’m officially on vacation”. 

“Okay, boss”, he winked at his daughter. 

“Looks like we both get to take care of our son”, David said to his wife and smiled. 

After a little moment of silence Emma remembered she wanted to ask her mother a question.  
“Mom?”

“Yes, Emma?”

“I was wondering…have you told anyone, besides dad, about the fight we had yesterday?”

Mary-Margaret became a little nervous as she recalled herself calling Ruby after Emma left and just blurting out everything that had occurred. 

“Well, I did call Ruby, I might have told her you were probably be checking in to the B&B soon.”

“Okay, but did you tell her why?”

Snow let out at breath before answering, “Yes, I told her everything, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t keep it all in until your father got back from helping Marco out.” Mary-Margaret was staring at the floor now.

Emma just let herself drop on the couch and places her head in her hands and groaned. She ran one of her hands through her hair and lifted her head up and turned herself a bit so she was facing her mother.

“Please tell me you’ve at least asked Ruby to keep this to herself?”

Snow looked up again, this time not so nervous any more. “Yes, I did ask her to try and not tell Granny or her customers. 

“Okay, thank goodness. What did she say when you told her?”

“Uhh, basically that it was old news for her, and that I really should stop freaking out, and apo… Mary-Margaret didn’t get to finish her sentence.

“Old news, what do you mean old news?, Emma asked with a frown on her face.

Mary-Margaret started to explain in full teacher mode, “As you are well aware of, Ruby is part Wolf. Wolves have an incredible sense of smell compared to humans. You know this, you’ve seen Ruby in action before, using this skill. It also means that Ruby can smell pheromones. And that’s how she knew about the attraction between you and Regina, she could smell it when you were at the diner together or when she met the both of you in other places.”

Emma let this information sink in for a moment. She vaguely heard her son say he was going to the bathroom and be back in a moment.

“So, what you’re telling me is that Ruby could smell that I loved Regina?”

“Not exactly…. I said she could smell the attraction…. A blush formed on Mary-Margaret’s face, and that made Emma finally realize what her mother was trying to say.

“O my god, you’re saying she could smell that we were sexually attracted to each other”, now it was Emma whose face turned red.

Both Snow and David shuddered at the thought of their daughter and Regina basically oozing out sex pheromones. Snow just nodded to Emma as confirmation that now she got the picture.

Henry then returned to a room filled with awkward looks and silence, but decided not to comment on it and instead just say, “I hope mom will get everything arranged soon”.

“I hope so too, Henry. It is getting rather late now, it’s already 10 pm. It’s a good thing you can sleep in tomorrow, kid”, Emma said.

“Speaking of sleeping, David began saying, “You could spend the night here Henry, if you’re feeling tired. I know it’s Regina’s week to have you living with her, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind just for one night.”

“Nah, I’m good grandpa. I can wait a while longer for mom to return, I’m 14, I can stay up late.”

David smiled at his grandson who was sitting next to him again and ruffled his hair.

“Hey grandpa?”

“Yes, Henry?”

“I don’t feel like continuing this board-game, can we do something else?”

“O, we could play charades”, Mary-Margaret said with great enthusiasm and clasped her hands together in excitement. “Emma and I versus you and David, is that okay?”

He saw his mother trying to shake her head as discrete as possible, while sitting next to her mother, to make him say no. Henry didn’t really feel like playing charades either, but he couldn’t let the excited woman down and besides it would be another opportunity for him and his grandfather to beat the two women in a new competition. 

“Sure, you and Emma can go first”, he replied with a smile. He could see from the corner of his eyes that his mother was scrunching up her nose and glaring daggers at him. 

===========================================================================

“Seriously mom, how could you not guess the correct title at least once”, Emma said with annoyance and despair in her tone. 

“I really tried, Emma, I think your acting skills might need some work.”

“My acting skills are perfectly fine. How hard is it to guess Legally Blonde in the movie category, when I point out to the place I normally keep my sheriffs badge and my very blonde hair!”.

“I’m sorry honey, I just really couldn’t make the connection.”

“Obviously”, Emma said as she sat down on the couch again placing her elbows on her legs and putting her head to rest on her hands. 

David then hissed at them to keep it down. He noticed that his grandson fell asleep while Mary-Margaret was failing at the game spectacularly and the fighting of his opponents would wake Henry up if they continued. 

“Would you mind to sit somewhere else so I can carry my grandson over to the couch? He’ll be more comfortable there.” David asked his wife and daughter.

They immediately got up from the couch and relocated themselves to the chairs at the breakfast bar in the kitchen area. 

When David joined them, after he carefully put his grandson on the couch without waking him up and places a blanket over the boy, he said “Guess he’s not so good at staying up late as he thought”. 

“Yeah well, it is almost 23:30, I don’t blame him”, Emma replied while looking at her sleeping son with a smile. I wonder what’s keeping Regina so long, she should be done by now shouldn’t she?”

“I am done, dear”. 

Emma was surprised to hear a voice coming from behind her, but she immediately heard it was Regina. She turned around on her chair and saw a tired looking Regina standing a few feet away from her.

“I managed to give everyone in town the message that the school and public offices will be closed tomorrow, but that the deputy can be alerted in case of emergency by calling, like always. I also let everyone know that if the weather gets worse or doesn’t change these measures might continue to last for several days. But I will make sure they will be told if that should be the case.”

Emma got up from the chair and walked towards Regina. 

“Did that take so long?”

Regina shook her heard, “No, I decided to get the last bit of paperwork I had lying on my desk done, so I wouldn’t need to return to the office tomorrow or worry about it. City hall will be closed as well, since that’s also a public office. I thought I would have been finished sooner, sorry it took a while”

Regina stepped a little closer to Emma, “Since all my work is done now, I have tomorrow off”.

“Nice, we could hang out together tomorrow since we’re both free now”, Emma said with a hopeful look on her face.

“I was hoping for that too”, Regina replied with a shy smile. Suddenly she noticed her son was not seated with his grandparents who were still sitting at the breakfast bar. She turned her head to see where her son was and quickly located him, sleeping on the couch. 

Emma had followed Regina searching eyes, and explained, “Yeah, our son fell asleep while we were playing charades.”

Regina was happy she missed playing charades with the Charmings, her paper work sounded more appealing. Before she could comment on the matter though she couldn’t help but yawn. 

“Looks like our son isn’t the only one who is tired”, Emma said and took Regina’s hand. 

Together they walked to their son and with her free hand Regina stroked his cheek and gave him such a warm smile that Emma couldn’t help but stare at Regina in awe. That loving smile made her girlfriend look so beautiful and adorable and loving at the same time. 

When Regina turned her focus from Emma to Henry she caught Emma staring at her. She tilted her head, “Is something the matter, dear?” 

That snapped Emma out of her trance, “Huh, o no, nothing is the matter. I was just totally captivated by the look of you smiling to our son like that.”

“Like how?”

Emma really couldn’t explain it very well, “Well, like he is your whole world and there is nothing else in it that you love more”. 

“You’re right, there is nothing more in this world or the other realms I love more, but there is someone who I have an equal amount of love for.”

“Really, who’s that?” It was an honest question.

“You, you idiot”, Regina stated with a chuckle.

“Wow, you know I still have trouble believing that is true, I truly believed you would never love me like that, and we’re only together for like a day?”

“That’s true, but my feelings for you have been there for a much longer time.”

“So have mine, the feelings I have for you I mean.”

Mary-Margaret cleared her throat to get Regina and Emma out of the moment they were having. It was starting to make her a little uncomfortable. 

“Now that Regina is back, I suggest we call it a night and all get a goodnights sleep.”

“Yes, maybe we should call it a night.” Emma turned to face Regina again, ‘You can ‘poof’ Henry home with you, can’t you?”

“Of course I can, I’ll poof him right into his bed. Goodbye Snow, goodbye David, thank you for your hospitality.”

David and Snow nodded to Regina.

Emma wanted to start saying goodnight and see you tomorrow to her girlfriend, but before she had the chance she felt herself being pulled away from the room by magic.

For a moment Snow and Charming were just looking at the spot where their daughter, grandson, and Regina had been just a few seconds ago. 

Snow turned her head away first and with a barely noticeable tremble in her voice asked her husband, “David, did I miss something? I mean, Emma does still live here right?”

David blinked a few times before replying, “As far as I know, I would think so, yes. The fight is over, you two made up. I don’t see how this is not her home. But maybe she doesn’t think so anymore?”

Snow pondered for a moment, “Maybe it wasn’t Emma, If I heard correctly she only asked Regina if she was able to take Henry home with her, not Emma herself.” Snow started smiling and whispered more to herself then to David, “She doesn’t want to be separated from Emma, how cute.”

“Let’s just get ready for bed”, she said as she walked towards her husband and gave him a peck on the cheek, “We’ll just ask her when we see her again.”

=============================================================================

As Emma opened her eyes when she felt the magic leaving her body and solid ground underneath her feet, she saw she was in the living room of the mansion, standing next to Regina with their fingers still intertwined.

She looked around her, “Where is Henry?”

“He’s safe and sound in bed”.

“Okay. After hesitating to ask she did anyway, “Regina, why exactly am I here? I don’t live here”.

Regina didn’t really know the answer to that question herself. Or maybe she did, but she just didn’t want to admit that she just wanted Emma close to her, even worse she needed Emma close to her. She didn’t want to say that out loud, so she just came up with an excuse. 

As casually as possible she began, “We agreed we would spend time with each other on our free day tomorrow. I just don’t want to keeping ‘poofing’ in an out the apartment to get you. You can’t walk over here with this weather and your ‘poofing’ skills are not up to standard yet. Perhaps tomorrow we could work on that.”

Emma’s super power alerted her that Regina was possibly not being entirely truthful to her, but she’d let it slide for now. The prospect of a magic lesson from Regina was definitely a good one, she really did want to get this whole ‘poofing’ thing under control. Besides she could think of worse things than being with her girlfriend. 

“Really, you’re going to help me with my magic tomorrow? That’s so cool, thank you.”

Regina just nodded affirmatively and laughed at Emma’s childlike enthusiasm. 

“It is going to be quiet an active day tomorrow, practicing magic drains your energy, so I suggest that we both get some sleep now.”, Regina said and as she finally released Emma’s hand, she headed for the stairs. 

Emma followed and when she was almost upstairs, she was in doubt. “Should I go to the guest bedroom? Or should I follow Regina to her room? I know I’ve spent last night there, but she invited me then. I don’t just want to assume that this is normal now. I wish it was though, I’ve never slept better than with Regina next to me. And that bed really feels amazing too….”

Fortunately for Emma, Regina took her hand again when they arrived at the top of the stairs and gently pulled Emma with her to her bedroom.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Emma had awoken quite early that morning. She found herself holding a still sleeping Regina close to her. She felt pretty great when she woke up and saw the gorgeous brunette lying so close to her. She studied Regina’s face for a couple of minutes. 

“She looks so peaceful in her sleep.” Emma carefully lifted her hand up to tuck a free strand of hair that was covering her girlfriends face behind her ear, and then continued with her thoughts. “I love her face even more without make-up on, she truly is a natural beauty. Lightly tanned skin, gorgeous features, soft lips and the small scar right above them. I wondered how she got it, I wonder if she would tell me if I asked, but I don’t think I’m going to. I would rather that she tells me in her own time. There is so much I don’t know about Regina, mainly about her past, and yet I feel like I know her so well. I’ve learnt a lot about her since we became friends. Her likes and dislikes, her tells that let me know she is trying to hide how she really feels…the list is endless. But I wonder if this is going too fast, shouldn’t we date first like normal people do before they talk about a relationship? Then again, we aren’t exactly normal people. What’s normal anyway?” Emma let out a little sigh and looked up at the ceiling. She was so caught up in her train of thoughts that she didn’t notice Regina’s breathing rhythm had changed indicating that she was awake now. 

“I think I should talk about this with her when she wakes up. I don’t know what she wants, or what she expects of me. Secretly all I want is to be around her all the time. Form a true family with her and our son. To be able to live with them and take care of them and be there for them, always.”

“I lied to Regina yesterday, for the first time since we became friends. I stopped her when she pinned me to the wall, I said I didn’t think I was ready for that huge step in our relationship. The fact is that I am, I am ready, my body felt like it was on fire with desire, but I’m afraid to give in. Afraid to take that important step in the journey of completely revealing yourself to another person. Afraid that it might make her realize that this is not what she wants after all. Afraid that I won’t be able to satisfy her needs. Afraid this might all turn out to be to good to be true. On the other hand, I would love to get to know that side of Regina. To be able to learn more about her then I ever thought was possible. 

“I think I need to have a little more faith in myself, and in Regina. It’s just hard for me, because of my past. I more than once was convinced I had finally found a family, but my dreams and hope were destroyed countless times. I wish I had more faith in others, especially in those who deserve it, those who truly love me or care for me.”

Emma suddenly felt a hand coming to rest on her stomach. She tilted her head back to Regina and saw those magnificent brown eyes of the brunette looking back at her. She smiled, “Good morning”. 

“Good morning, dear”, Regina’s sweet morning voice made Emma feel a little less insecure. Regina started to move her thumb up and down gently, stroking Emma’s stomach gently. “I could almost hear your thoughts, care to share them with me?” As Regina looked at Emma she saw the signs of an internal struggle on her girlfriends face so she added, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I want you to know that you can tell me anything.”

“I…. I was just wondering, what are we now exactly? I have confessed my love for you and you have confessed yours for me. But I cannot help but wonder what we are. I know I have said I want a serious relationship with you, but I don’t know what you want and expect from me, not exactly at least. Shouldn’t we date first for example? I’m sorry if I’m not making any sense now. I just can’t help but feel a little insecure sometimes about my relations with other people…. 

Regina looked at her girlfriend and decided that she was going to tell Emma exactly what she wanted, what she dreamed of. So she removed her hand from Emma’s stomach and sat herself up on the bed before placing her index finger on Emma’s lips to silence her. She then gestured for Emma to sit up straight too. Emma leaned her back and head against the headboard of the bed after sitting up. Regina now moved so she was sitting on Emma’s upper legs and placed her hands on Emma’s shoulders while looking into her eyes with firm determination and love.

She took a breath before asking, “Emma, are you doubting me and my feelings for you?” She needed to ask that question first. She wanted to know if Emma possibly had doubts about her or her commitment to this relationship. 

Emma sighed and replied, “I think I’m doubting myself more than you. I’m just afraid...” Emma swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to keep the tears she felt brimming in her eyes at bay, and turned her head so she wouldn’t be looking into Regina’s eyes anymore.

“Afraid of what, dear? Regina asked softly and lifted one hand from Emma’s shoulder to lay it upon a cheek and gently turned Emma’s head so they would be looking at each other again. Emma had her eyes looking downwards, took a breath and then looked up meeting those brown orbs again. 

“I’m afraid that I won’t be enough, I won’t be what you need after all. That you will realize this and that I will be left by someone I love, again. I’m afraid that this is all just like a fairy tale, that it turns out to be to good to be true.”

Regina closed her eyes for a second as she let Emma’s words sink in. Emma was insecure about herself and afraid of rejection, most likely because of all the things that have happened in her life. 

As she opened her eyes again she saw a single tears rolling down her girlfriends face and that made her heart break a little. This needed to stop and she was going to make sure it did. 

“Emma, I am not going to leave you. I will never leave you. You are enough. You are more than I ever hoped or dreamed of finding in a lover. You are smart, beautiful, considerate, self-less, love-able and caring. You are my soul mate. You understand me like no one else does. You do believe me when I say I love you, right?

Emma nods immediately, “Yes, I do know that, I can feel it.”

“Then have faith in yourself and faith in me. I know that this might seem like it’s going fast, and to be honest, it is. However, this is what I want. I hope I’m not being to presumptuous and scare you, but I have known for months now that I can’t live without you in my life. I feel the physical need to be with you, be around you all the time. That’s also why I took you home with me last night.” Regina bit her bottom lip when she confessed this to Emma. 

Emma smiled at the sight of Regina suddenly feeling insecure and a little worried. 

“So what you’re telling me is that you love me and you can’t live without me.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

Emma lunged forward putting her arms around Regina and hugged her tightly. 

“I’m sorry for being so insecure, for my doubts and for being such an idiot.”

Regina, who was returning the hug, replied with a chuckle ’You’re not an idiot, or at least not now. You already know that I had my doubts too, about myself and the possibility of us being together. You took my doubts away when you said you didn’t care if I was a thousand years old, or when you said you didn’t care I was the Evil Queen once, and when you told me of all the things that you love about me. I just hope I helped you like you were able to help me believe in myself and us.”

Emma released Regina from the hug and kissed her on the lips. “You have, babe. I love you.”

“And about the dating thing you mentioned. I think we have had many dates already; we just didn’t realize they were dates at the time. We have gone to the movies, we have had dinners, we have been spending a lot of time together in the last couple of years. Of course that doesn’t mean you don’t have to take me anywhere in the future. I’m still surprised only David and Henry have seen what we didn’t at the time, as far as we know.”

“Yeah, well that’s not exactly true.” Emma interrupted Regina as she recalled what Snow told her about Ruby. 

Regina raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

As Emma told Regina about the whole pheromone thing a blush crept up Regina’s neck when she realized what that meant. 

“I see”, Regina responded nodded her head slightly.

“You look so cute when you blush”.

“Do I now?”

“Yes, you do”. Emma leaned forward a little and pressed a few light kissed on Regina’s neck and one on the clavicle that she could access because her girlfriend’s pyjama blouse had moved to one side a bit.

“Emma?”

“Yes?”

Regina pulled back from the kisses she was receiving. And with an earnest look on her face she asked, “Will you move in with me and Henry, here in the mansion?”

Emma considered the words that spilled from Regina’s lips for a moment. Regina couldn’t really get a read on what Emma was thinking, her face showed no emotion. She was almost about to say to just forget she asked the silly question, when a huge smile appeared upon the blondes face. Instantly Regina felt relieved. 

“Babe, I would love nothing more than to move in with you and form a real family with our son.”

“Good”, Regina replied with a loving smile that reached her eyes.

For a couple of minutes, they just stared at each other as both women were letting everything that was said this early in the morning sink in. 

Emma was the first one to speak. 

“Get up babe, I can’t go anywhere with you sitting on top of my legs and I am really looking forward to that magic lesson you promised me.” A smirk formed on Emma’s face and before Regina knew it she could feel a hand spanking her behind, not hard, but with enough force to notice and make her let out a soft squeal in surprise.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open a bit as she processed what just happened.

Soon however she composed herself and smirked back at her girlfriend, “My Miss Swan, I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing”. Then she leaned forward so she could whisper in the blonde’s ear “I’ll be sure to remember that.”

And with those words she got up out of bed and walked into the bathroom to prepare herself for the day to come. While Emma was still recovering from hearing Regina squeal just a moment ago and the shiver that ran through her body when Regina used her more Mayoral voice to make that promise to remember.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Regina and Emma were nearly done eating their breakfast when a still half-asleep Henry entered the kitchen.

He yawned as he walked up to the table and attempted to say good morning. He then rubbed his eyes and when he actually looked to see who was in the kitchen he noticed Regina was not alone. 

“Hey ma, what are you doing here so early in the morning?”

“You were asleep when your mother returned from City Hall to the apartment and she ‘poofed’ us both home with her.”

Regina smiled as she heard Emma refer to the mansion as home, and then she took a sip of her coffee. 

“O okay, I was wondering how I ended up in bed yesterday. What’s for breakfast?”

“I didn’t expect you to be up so early Henry, I will make you some pancakes. They will be ready in a minute.”  
Regina, who was finished with her own breakfast, went to fetch the ingredients she needed to make the pancakes and started working on the batter. 

“Thanks mom”, Henry replied and then he turned to Emma.

“Did you just say home?”

“Did your brain just wake up?”, Emma replied while laughing at her adorable, sleepy looking son. 

This caused Regina to turned around from the stove and see what was so funny. 

“Well, yes. I’m just waking up ma. But does that mean that this is your home now?”

The smile on the blondes face already gave him the answer to his question.

“Yes, Henry. This is my home now. Your mother asked me to move in with you guys this morning.”

Emma turned her head when she felt a hand coming to rest on her right shoulder. Regina had walked up to the table when she heard Henry asking if Emma lived here now. She looked up at the smiling brunette and put her hand over Regina’s. When she continued, “And I said I would love nothing more then to move in with the two people I care about most in my life.”

Regina then bend over and placed a chaste kiss on Emma’s cheek. Then she turned to her son and asked him, “Are you okay with this, Henry?” She knew the chance he wasn’t was extremely slim, but Regina none the less wanted to ask her son if he agreed with her decision to ask Emma to move in with them. This change would affect her sons live too.

“Are you kidding me, of course I’m okay with this”, Henry replied excitedly. “I mean; we will actually be a real family now. I have already told you that’s what I want more than anything. And I have to be honest and say that I was getting a little tired of having to pack my stuff every week and moving from the mansion to the apartment all the time. I want to be able to be with both my mothers. Not that I don’t like living with grandma, grandpa and Neal, but it can be a little crowded there sometimes. I just hated having to be away from one of you.”

Henry then got up and hugged both of his mothers tight. As they all were holding on to each other Henry smelled something burning. He pulled back from the hug, “Mom. I think you are burning my pancakes.”

Regina quickly turned on her heel and went to check on the pancakes. When she turned them over with the spatula she could clearly see that they were to dark to be deemed eatable. She sighed, “I’m sorry Henry, I burned your pancakes. I’ll make some new ones for you. 

“O that’s fine mom, we did kind of distract you just now. Besides, I am glad I’m not the only one in this house who burned breakfast anymore”, he said with a little smirk on his face. 

Regina didn’t say anything, she just rolled her eyes while she disposed of the burned pancakes. Emma however looked at her son and winked at him and said, “Good one, kid”. 

“I heard that, Emma”, Regina said. “Finish your breakfast, dear. It’s time for me to teach you a lesson,” She paused mid sentence just for effect, before adding, “in magic”. 

=======================================================================================

Emma was watching as Henry was playing Minecraft on his game console. She was sitting on the couch waiting for Regina to return from upstairs. Emma felt a little nervous for the pending change in dynamic between Regina and her. Regina would be the teacher and she would be the student. The not so capable and clumsy student to be precise, but this made her determined to give it all she got. 

A few minutes later the clicking of Regina’s heels could be heard as she descended the stairs. 

“Henry, Emma and I are going to work on improving Emma’s magical abilities today. We will go to my vault to practice, because it’s still snowing outside so we can’t practice there and I don’t want anything going wrong in this house so the vault is our best option at the moment.”

Henry, whose eyes were glued to the screen in front of him replied, “Okay moms, I’ll see you later.”

“We’ll be back at 3 pm at the latest. It’s 10 am now and 5 hours of practicing will be more then enough for one day. I would be surprised if we actually practice that long.”

“Okay, bye moms.”

Emma shook her head at her son’s behaviour and got up from the couch and walked over to her girlfriend. They held hands and intertwined their fingers. Regina then concentrated on ‘poofing’ to her vault with Emma and soon purple smoke engulfed both woman and they were gone. 

=======================================================================================

Two hours later…

Regina ran a hand through her hair and took a breath. She was trying to remain calm and patient with Emma, but her girlfriend was not making this easy for her. 

“Emma please try to stay focused. You are not concentrating enough on your magic and your goals.”

Emma groaned, “Regina “poofing’ through this vault is just so boring.” 

“Boring or not, you can’t even seem to perform this simple task most of the times and when you do ‘poof’ you often crash into something. What is distracting you so much?”

Emma just stared at the floor. “Uh, my teacher?”

“What do you mean, your teacher?”

“Well, for example when we started this lesson you stood behind me and placed your hands on my stomach to show me where I should feel my magic concentrating itself before releasing it.”

“My hands distracted you?”, Regina asked and quirked an eyebrow at Emma.

Emma sighed, “Yes, they distracted me. Everything about you distracts me! Like I said you make my mind go crazy”, Emma threw up her hands and walked to the stairs and sat herself upon the steps. 

“Maybe I need to try a different approach then”, Regina said as she walked to the steps were Emma was seated.   
Before Regina reached Emma, purple smoke engulfed her. Emma’s mouth fell open when the smoke cleared. 

She jumped up, so she was standing on the steps now. “Regina, what in the world did you do to yourself?”  
Emma saw what could best be described as an old hag approaching her. To be honest it freaked her out a little. 

“Well, I figured that since you are apparently so distracted by the way I look and act that I should change that.”

As Regina moved closer, she was almost unable to stop herself from laughing. The look on her girlfriend’s face was priceless. The horror, shock and surprise were a comical blend of expressions on Emma’s face. 

“So are you appalled enough to be able to get your mind of my hot body and work on your magic?”

“Please Regina, I beg you, turn back into yourself. I promise I will try harder to focus. You are freaking me out.”

Barely able to stop herself from cackling, because Regina thought she was being hilarious, she grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled her close. “Can I get a kiss from you, dear?”

“Now? While you are looking like that?” Emma scrunched up her nose a bit. 

Regina took offense at that and decided she would ask the saviour to kiss her in her current state. She had originally planned to turn back to herself before she would. 

“Yes, dear. Didn’t you say you would still love me and choose me even if I was a thousand years old. Well now I’m looking the part, do you still stand behind those words?

Emma felt a bit uncomfortable, but she really did mean what she sad. She would still love Regina even if she turned into a toad. And how bad could it be, she would just close her eyes.

Emma replied, “O, I really did mean everything I told you, come her babe.” Emma put her hands around Regina’s waist and pulled her against her. 

When Regina realized Emma was actually going to do this as she saw the blond leaning into her and closing her eyes she decided to turn back to herself before their lips connected. She didn’t want to be anyone else but herself during the intimate moments she would share with Emma. 

When their lips connected Emma was surprised to feel the soft lips she was getting used to kissing now.   
After a few seconds of moving their lips against each other Emma pulled back only to see the ‘normal’ Regina standing in front of her. She couldn’t help but feel a little relieved at the sight. 

“I have to say, you have a strange kind of humour, Regina”, Emma said while giving her girlfriend a small smile. 

“I do not have a strange kind of humour, Regina began but as she thought it over she changed her mind…” Okay, maybe I do a little. But I only did this because you and our son ganged up on my this morning when I burned the pancakes and because you really should learn to focus better. 

Emma laughed, “Yeah I get it, but still you have a weird way of teaching me a lesson”. 

“You haven’t seen the half of it, dear, “Regina retorted with a smirk.

“I don’t think it is any use to continue this lesson though, we already spend 3 hours on this and we haven’t gotten very far. I suggest we will try again another day.” 

“I agree”. 

“I would like to try one thing though; I want to see if you can follow me by “poofing” if I leave this place. I wouldn’t be here to ‘distract’ you as you say. 

“Okay, but if I am not with you in say ten minutes then please return and come and get me.”

“I will”, and with that Regina was gone. 

“O crap, she didn’t say where she would go. What should I do now.” Emma started pacing through to vault. 

Meanwhile, Regina appeared before the front door of the Charmings apartment. She wasn’t really keen on entering the place but she came here to test Emma. She assumed Emma would try to poof home first because that was the place she most likely would have gone to and this the least likely. However, she hoped that their bond as true loves and soul mates would be strong enough to let Emma find her by instinct. She had faith that they did share true love, but if this worked she would have some sort of evidence that her faith was justified. All she could do now was wait and see and have hope that Emma would find her soon.

After pacing five minutes Emma thought it was time for her to focus. She stopped her movements and took a few deep breaths. She could feel herself calming down and closed her eyes. She didn’t focus on a place in her mind like she would normally do when she would ‘poof’ herself somewhere. Instead she focused on Regina. Pretty soon there was nothing else on her mind anymore then the brunette she loved so much. She could feel the magic bubbling inside of her, much like that time in the forest. Soon she felt that familiar pull on her body and her magic engulfing her and she was gone. 

Regina suddenly saw white smoke engulfing her and felt two hands holding her just above her hips. When the smoke cleared she saw a very smug looking Emma standing in front of her. She felt her heart skip a beat. Emma had found her just like she had hoped, and quite fast.

“Found you”, Emma said and then smiled at Regina.

“I can see that, and you have improved your skills of landing in a good spot. You didn’t crash into me this time.”

“No, I didn’t. I guess you thought me something after all.”

Emma then looked around her and was surprised to see that she was standing by the front door of her parent’s apartment. “Unusual place to hide from me.”

“I wasn’t really hiding from you.”, Regina said and then bit her bottom lip.

“I was thinking that since you agreed to move in with me and Henry that we should let your parents know and maybe we could get your things?”

Emma gently pushed Regina up against the door and leaned in starting peppering kisses all over Regina’s neck, cheeks and jaw while in-between kisses saying “I love the way you think sometimes, and I love you”.

Suddenly the apartment door opened causing the two women to lose their balances and falling through the door opening straight into the apartment. Fortunately, the landing wasn’t that hard. 

“Hello to you too”, Snow said while she was looking at the women who just fell into her home. Emma was lying on top of Regina and looked up to see her mom looking confused, but smiling at them. 

“Hi mom, dad.” Emma stood up quickly and pulled Regina on her feet too. 

Regina’s cheeks were flushed and soon she started laughing. Snow joined her first, followed by David and then Emma. 

Snow closed the door and said, “I would have invited you inside, but you already dropped in.”


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Sorry for dropping in like this, mom”, Emma said walking to the couch to sit down next to her father.   
Regina followed and took a seat next to Emma. 

“O, that’s okay honey, I was the one who opened to door to see if I wasn’t imagining hearing something in het hallway. I guess I wasn’t.” Mary-Margaret had a smile on her face as she moved herself to the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink, Regina?

Regina, who was a little lost in her thoughts at the prospect of Emma telling her parents that she would move out only to live with her and how they would react to this, looked up at Snow. “A glass of water would be nice, thank you.” 

Snow nodded her head and then asked her daughter the same question.

“I’ll have a glass too, thanks mom.”

Mary-Margaret could feel that the two women were a bit nervous. Regina tried really hard to play it cool and put on a mask, but she has known the woman long enough to notice she was anxious. Her daughter was clearly showing her nerves because she was fidgeting with her hands. Something was up, and Snow had a feeling what that something was going to turn out to be. She had even made preparations for it. 

The night before had opened her eyes completely to the extend her daughter and her former step-mother loved each other. Hearing Regina tell her daughter that she loved her more than anything in the world or other realms, and then seeing the undeniable truth in Regina’s eyes as she looked at Emma had really put everything in perspective. There was no doubt left in her mind that these two women belonged to each other, and should be together. Emma even looked at Regina the same way Charming would look at her. With all the love and understanding in the world. 

That’s why she and David had made preparations for what she knew would be inevitable. Her daughter would move out. This home, her home, would no longer be the home of all the Charming. It would be only her, David and Neal. Emma was going to have a new home and be a family with Regina and their son. Snow was surprised at herself for not feeling sad or angry or confused anymore about all these changes in just a few days. She couldn’t be happier actually. Her daughter deserved to have a family of her own and to be loved. Snow was convinced that Regina would be Emma’s happy ending and vice versa. 

When Snow walked to the living area and provided everyone with their drinks she sat herself down in the chair next to the couch. She turned to face Regina and Emma before asking, “So, is there any specific reason for you two dropping by?” She took a sip of the tea she brewed for herself and placed to cup on the table. Still waiting for an answer to her question. 

For some reason Emma’s brain short-circuited. She tried to open her mouth to tell her parent about the amazing news. She really wanted to shout it from the rooftops that she loves Regina Mills, who is the most beautiful woman in town and that that woman had asked her to move in with her, and that she had said yes. But words failed her at the moment. 

Regina noticed that Emma was a bit out of it. She reached over to the blonde and placed her hand on Emma’s. It was all that was needed for Emma to be able to function again. It was a sign that everything would be okay and she should just relax. She just couldn’t help but feeling nervous about sharing her plans, their plans with her parents. Last time Emma told her mother about how she felt about Regina didn’t exactly go as she had hoped. But she knew they made up and that her parents supported her now. 

Emma looked up at Regina and then to her mother, both gave her an encouraging smile to just speak up.   
She nodded her head slightly, more at herself then at someone else in the room and a smile splayed on her face.

“I was just wondering how Neal was doing, does he still have a temperature?”

All of the sudden she saw three people staring at her with surprised looks on their faces. Not David, nor Snow, and especially not Regina expected that question to come out of Emma’s mouth. Emma looked at Regina, who had her mouth hanging open slightly, like she was going to say something but she forget what it was that she wanted to say.  
Emma put her free hand on top of Regina’s hand that was still placed over Emma’s other hand. The blonde knew what her girlfriend must be thinking now. She was probably thinking that Emma had changed her mind about moving in with her. But the truth was her little brother just suddenly popped into her mind and she was really curious and a little concerned about how he was doing. In order to reassure Regina that she would most definitely tell her parents that she was moving out she squeezed the brunette’s hand softly and intertwined their fingers. She could feel Regina being tense, but slowly relaxing, thank god. 

Snow furrowed her brows and gave David a look. Her husband just shrugged his shoulders. 

“Neal is actually doing much better, he’s taking his nap at the moment and should be waking up soon. His fever has broken, thankfully. I think we owe Regina a thank you for that. Keeping Neal hydrated really helped a lot.” Snow now gave Regina a genuine smile of appreciation. This made Regina relax a little more and have faith that everything would turn out to be okay. 

David cleared his throat, “I have a feeling that Neal isn’t the only reason for you being here with Regina. Am I correct?”

Emma was surprised that her parents seemed to know there was something else.

“Well, yes there is something else I would like to tell you, Emma began in a way that sounded so confident it surprised herself, “Regina has asked me to move in with her and Henry, and I’ve said YES!”

David looked at Snow when he saw the huge happy grin on his daughters face. They both smiled at each other, for they appeared to be right and the preparations they had made would certainly not be in vain. 

At the same time both Charmings practically shouted “Congratulations!”.

Oh, honey, we’re so happy for you both”, Snow said while seeing both Regina and Emma surprised at the enthusiastic reaction of her and David. 

Snow then got up from her chair and walked over to the couch gesturing Emma and Regina should get up. Both women obeyed and wondered what was going to happen next. When Snow reached them, she instantly and without any hesitation whatsoever pulled them into a big hug. Emma accepted the hug from her mother and embraced her back. Regina however was shocked and didn’t really know what to do with herself. So she just stood there in the arms of freaking Snow White with her own arms firmly pressed against her sides. 

Thankfully David came to the rescue as he saw the stressed look on Regina’s face. 

He grabbed his wife by the shoulder and said, “I think you should let them go now, you are smothering them.” He shared a look with Regina and mouthed a ‘sorry’ to her. He could understand Regina’s predicament of being hugged tightly by his wife. 

After Snow pulled back from the hug, Emma noticed her girlfriends shocked and annoyed expression. Honestly, Emma had trouble not to laugh at the sight. She placed a hand at the small of Regina’s back and gently stroked it with her thumb, making Regina relax again. 

“I’m sorry, I am just so happy that….well that you two are so happy and that your father and I didn’t prepare for this all morning for nothing.”

Emma raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean, prepare for this?”

David decided to take the lead on this one. “Well after last night, your mother became convinced that Regina took you home with her because she didn’t want to be separated from you. She even said she wasn’t sure if this was your home anymore, Emma. I didn’t really believe that at first, but we discussed it a bit more before going to sleep and that’s how we both came to expect that you would in fact be moving out pretty soon.”

He gave the women a smile, “So, everything is already packed into boxes and you’re ready to go.”

Emma couldn’t believe it and her jaw dropped. Regina pretty much had the same reaction. 

Today seemed to be a day full of surprises and strange things happening, but it made Emma pretty happy. 

“The boxes are upstairs in your room, honey. I suggest we go there and bring them downstairs and then we can say goodbye, and you and Regina can ‘poof’ yourselves and your stuff home.”

“Okay”, mom.

While they were in Emma’s bedroom Regina and David took the first three boxes downstairs with them, David carried two, leaving Mary-Margaret and Emma alone in the room. There weren’t many boxes to be moved. Just five of them. 

Emma looked around her room for one last time, “I can’t believe you guys did this, thank you”. 

Mary-Margaret picked up on of the two remaining boxes and turned around to face her daughter. 

“Neither can I sometimes, but we have and I don’t regret it for a moment. I love that we lived together and got to have time to be a family together, but I love it even more if you are truly happy. And if I can do anything to help you get the happiness that you deserve I will do it.”

Mary-Margaret smiled at her daughter and handed her the box she was holding and turned around to fetch the last one. 

“You do know that we still are a family, don’t you, mom?”

“Of course I do, Emma, that will never change. Come on, honey they are waiting for us downstairs.”

After they collected the boxes full of Emma’s belongings in the living room, Snow went upstairs to see if little Neal had awoken from his nap. When she returned downstairs she held Neal in her arms.

“I thought you might like to say goodbye to your little brother too.”

Emma took Neal in her arms and gave her baby brother a hug. Regina who had developed a soft spot for the boy, softly rubbed over the boys head and back and then placed a kiss on his cheek.

“Aw, look at that, you are so cute together with a small child. I hope you two make me another grandchild in the future.”

Emma furrowed her brow, and handed Neal back over to her mother after giving him a kiss on the cheek as well.   
“Uhh, in case you haven’t noticed, but I’m sure you have….we are two women, so there will be no ‘making’ of anything together. We haven’t discussed this at all, but maybe we could adopt a child in the future, I don’t know.”

Regina felt her heart grow when Emma so clearly stated that she would be open to have another child, and to raise it with her. However, she had to correct Emma’s logic. So she cleared her throat, “Actually dear, we could as you say ‘make’ a child together, you know.”

Emma turned to face Regina, “What do you mean?”

A blush formed on Regina’s face, “Well, we both have magic and we are true loves, that’s a combination which would allow us to create a new life.”

“I knew that”, Snow suddenly said. 

“I certainly didn’t, Emma quipped, but I can say that’s a strange but pleasant surprise. Imagine a child that would be a combination of both of us. He or she would be so adorable and a total handful! But I’m not planning on ‘making’ a baby anytime soon, are you?, Emma asked Regina.

“NO.. no I’m not, dear. I think we are going to need a certain time to get used to living with each other first and when we’re ready we’ll talk about it and make up our minds on the matter. 

Emma was almost certain that her mother looked a little disappointed before she smiled and walked over to David with Neal still in her arms. 

David appeared to be surprised at the news that two women could make a baby if certain conditions are met, but shrugged the idea off and proceeded with saying goodbye to Emma. 

When Emma hugged her parents one last time, she walked to Regina and her stuff and as they joined their hands together they disappeared.

=======================================================================================

After they had gotten home and surprised Henry with the fact that Emma had all of her belongings with her, the three of them helped emptying the boxes and making room for Emma’s things. 

His mothers told Henry all about how his grandparents had surprised them with having everything ready to go.   
He was really happy that Snow had made such a spectacular change in her attitude about his moms being together. He was glad that he had been right after all when he told his mom that his grandparents might even surprise her. 

When they were through with the unpacking it was dinner time. Regina made chicken filets filled with pesto alla Genovese wrapped up in bacon which she put in the oven, a nice light salad and home made sweet potato fries. 

Emma thought this was one of the best meals she had ever had and that she was extremely fortunate to have such a great cook as her girlfriend. Regina even used real bacon, she said it was okay to indulge once in a while and especially when they had something as fundamental as Emma moving into the mansion to celebrate. 

When they had finished their family dinner it was Henry who had to do the dishes, all by himself. He had wondered why and asked his mom. Regina had just smirked at him and remembered him about the deal he had made with her during that snowball fight in the park. Dishes for a month and cleaning his own room in exchange for her allegiance. He didn’t mind though; the promise had been totally worth it. Just look at all that had happened. So without whining about it he did the dishes with a huge smile on his face. 

Meanwhile, Regina had to ‘poof’ to her office to let everyone in town know that, because the blizzard had not subsided, the school and public offices would still be closed tomorrow. She promised to get back home as soon as possible so they could watch a movie before going to bed. 

=======================================================================================

“Today was one of the best days ever”, Emma said as she lay herself down on their bed with her clothes on. 

Regina, who stood by her vanity, flashed a smile at Emma whom she could see was now sitting upright on the bed and looking at her via the mirror. 

“I certainly agree, dear. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a shower before going to bed.”

“O, I don’t mind at all, I could use a shower myself after the practicing magic and moving. I’ll go when you’re done.”

Before going into the bathroom, Regina walk to Emma and gave her a kiss on the lips, “I won’t be long.”

During the shower Regina started thinking. “Today really was another perfect day with Emma. Granted, the magic lessons could have gone a little better, but I am still very pleased with the end result of Emma being able to find me by just thinking of me. And then there where the Charmings….Hm, I don’t want to think about them while I’m in the shower…but they were very kind to us today. The hug from Snow however, that’s not a thing I’d like to experience every time I visit there, I hope David will say something about it to her. I felt like he understood why that made me feel awkward. Soon her mind drifted back to Emma. “I’m so happy that she said yes when I asked her to move in with me. I don’t think I could bare to be apart from her right now. I want to enjoy this to the fullest. I want to learn everything about Emma and I want her to learn everything about me. I can’t believe this is happening to me, so much joy in my life has been extremely rare. I just hope this time it lasts.”

The warm water was heating her body up quickly and that reminded Regina of something else. “Yesterday, I lied to Emma yesterday. When I pinned her to the wall and we kissed so passionately I really couldn’t stop, and I really didn’t want to either. It left me hot and bothered. It appears I am not only in love with her, but also very much in lust with her. I lied about thinking I am not ready for that next step in discovering Emma, and discovering myself. I have never been with a woman before, but I know how a woman’s body works, and I am rather confident that I am capable of discovering what makes Emma’s juices flowing. I was doing just fine with my lips on hers and my hand underneath her shirt, making her moan…. O god, stop thinking about it Regina! I’m getting aroused just thinking about the feel of those abs and that bra covered breast beneath my hand…I think I’ll just turn the water a bit colder…”

Regina, who wore her pyjamas, was reading a book in bed, while Emma was taking a shower. She thought it would get her mind off the blonde for a moment. Of course she had no such luck. She just went from the previous day to this morning. Her straddling Emma, Emma kissing her neck and clavicle, Emma spanking her behind…..Emma spanking her behind, Regina mused. I should get her back for that, I told her I would remember. A smirk appeared on her face when she heard the faucet shutting off in her en suite, indicating that Emma was done showering. She waited for about four minutes, before executing the plan that had formed in her mind. Emma should be out of the shower be now and drying herself of. Regina made a small motion with her hand and promptly a squeal coming from the direction of the bathroom reached her ears. It was like music. 

“What the hell was that?” Emma said out loud after she squealed. 

Emma turned around only to see nothing, nothing at all. She was sure she felt something slapping her ass. But there was nothing or no one to see? Soon though something clicked in Emma’s mind. “Regina….”

The door of the bathroom opened and in came Emma wearing nothing but the towel she was using to dry herself of with. Regina couldn’t help but smirk at seeing the glare Emma was giving her. 

Regina directed her eyes back on the book she had in her hands. 

“Regina?”

Regina didn’t look up as she replied in a sweet tone, “Yes, dear?”

“Did you just use your magic on me?”

Regina feigned ignorance and quirked a brow as she looked up to see Emma staring at her. The glare gone but the most adorable flushed cheeks giving away that her magic had its effect. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She then just pretended to get back to her reading. 

Emma thought a moment about what she should do. She decided to get into bed with Regina. As she walked to the bed and crawled over to Regina’s side she sat herself down on Regina’s legs, just like Regina had done with her this morning. Regina hadn’t moved a single muscle during the entire action. 

Emma raised her right hand and carefully pulled the book from Regina’s hands, placing it on the nightstand. After doing so she stared intensely into Regina’s eyes, before asking once more, “Did you just use your magic on me?”

It was too much, Emma sitting on top of her, only wearing a towel, gazing into her eyes. It made Regina cave.

“Yes….yes I did.”

Emma smiled, “Payback for this morning, I’m sure.”

“It might have been”, Regina replied in such an innocent tone and with such an innocent face that it made Emma chuckle. Her girlfriend could be so adorable sometimes. Her eyes though, they were not innocent at all. They were filled with desire. Emma could see the effect her lack of clothing had on Regina. Her pupils dilated and the brunette’s eyes moved from looking into her own to her lips, then a little lower to the cleavage she was showing with that towel wrapped around her and then back up to her lips. She saw Regina biting her lower lip and then wetting it with her tongue. It drove Emma insane how such small movement from the brunette could be so incredibly sexy and arousing. Emma could feel her breathing and heart rate speeding up. She could feel heat coiling inside of her. 

She couldn’t take it anymore, she had to kiss the gorgeous brunette. Emma leaned forward and captured Regina’s lips with her own. For a while she just moved her lips against the brunette’s, but soon she wanted to deepen the kiss. No, she needed to deepen the kiss. She parted her lips and let her tongue graze Regina’s upper lip. She was given access immediately and soon their tongues were playing a game with each other, trying to find dominance over the other. Regina let the blonde’s lips possess hers. She could feel her arousal climbing when Emma started to use her hands. She felt the blonde’s fingers raking over her sides, traveling upwards, stroking the sides of her breasts. God, how she wished she wasn’t wearing that pyjama top right now, or any clothes for that matter. She slid her own hands into Emma’s nape trying to pull her even closer with one hand and fisted the blonde’s long hair with the other. Emma let out a moan and moved her hands from the sides of Regina’s breasts to the hem of Regina’s pyjama blouse. She let her hands travel upwards, over Regina’s stomach to the soft swell of her breast. Emma cupped them in her hands and revelled in feeling their softness. She could feel Regina’s nipples starting to harden under her touch. The touch of Emma’s hands on her breasts only increased the throbbing between her legs. Regina knew exactly were she needed Emma most, and she was more than ready for it. 

Because she was in need of air, Regina broke their passionate kiss and looked Emma in the eyes. Breathing heavily after that make-out session and gazing into those green orbs Regina asked in the most seductive of ways, “Make love to me, Emma” …


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically all smut and therefore rated E. It's my first smut ever! If that's not your thing, I suggest you just skip this chapter :) (starts with a little recap of the end of chapter 17)

Chapter 18 

She couldn’t take it anymore, she had to kiss the gorgeous brunette. Emma leaned forward and captured Regina’s lips with her own. For a while she just moved her lips against the brunette’s, but soon she wanted to deepen the kiss. No, she needed to deepen the kiss. She parted her lips and let her tongue graze Regina’s upper lip. She was given access immediately and soon their tongues were playing a game with each other, trying to find dominance over the other. Regina let the blonde’s lips possess hers. She could feel her arousal climbing when Emma started to use her hands. She felt the blonde’s fingers raking over her sides, traveling upwards, stroking the sides of her breasts. God, how she wished she wasn’t wearing that pyjama top right now, or any clothes for that matter. She slid her own hands into Emma’s nape trying to pull her even closer with one hand and fisted the blonde’s long hair with the other. Emma let out a moan and moved her hands from the sides of Regina’s breasts to the hem of Regina’s pyjama blouse. She let her hands travel upwards, over Regina’s stomach to the soft swell of her breast. Emma cupped them in her hands and revelled in feeling their softness. She could feel Regina’s nipples starting to harden under her touch. The touch of Emma’s hands on her breasts only increased the throbbing between her legs. Regina knew exactly were she needed Emma most, and she was more than ready for it. 

Because she was in need of air, Regina broke their passionate kiss and looked Emma in the eyes. Breathing heavily after that make-out session and gazing into those green orbs Regina asked in the most seductive of ways, “Make love to me, Emma” …

The way Regina asked Emma to make love to her sent a shiver up her spine and a jolt of pleasure to her centre. She wanted to, she wanted to desperately, but she couldn’t just proceed without being absolutely sure that Regina was ready. With her hands still cupping the brunettes breast she asked, “Are you sure you’re ready, babe?”

Regina’s eyes flashed a purple glow that spread across the room, it was a silence spell, so that every noise that was made couldn’t be heard outside of it. 

Still breathing heavily, Regina leaned forward, letting her forehead touch Emma’s.  
“Dear, I couldn’t be more ready if I wanted too. Please, make love to me”. 

Emma could hear the desperation and desire in Regina’s voice, so she carefully nodded her head and smiled. She pushed Regina backwards and removed her hands from those warm, soft, full breasts she had been holding. 

Regina immediately felt a loss when Emma took her hands of her breasts and she wanted to protest, but before she could say anything Emma leaned in and kissed her. The hands that were missing quickly returned, not to her breasts but to the buttons of her pyjama blouse. Emma slowly began unbuttoning the blouse and deepened the kiss. When she was halfway, she removed her lips from Regina’s and moved to the brunette’s neck. 

Peppering soft kisses, she slowly worked her way up, finding Regina’s pulse point. Regina threw back her head so Emma had better access and she let out a moan when Emma lingered there for a moment and then started sucking on her neck, making sure she would leave a mark. The blonde’s hands continued their work and soon she reached the last button. The lapels of the blouse still covered Regina’s breasts when Emma was done with the unbuttoning. She wanted to see the sight of the breasts when she would completely dispose of the piece of clothing, so she pulled back from kissing Regina’s neck and sat upright again. She locked eyes with Regina before she let them travel down to what she felt like was a gift she was about to unwrap. Emma put one hand on Regina’s stomach, she could feel heat radiating from that lightly tanned skin under her touch. She let her hand travel upwards, to Regina’s belly button and then all the way up until her hand was placed between the breasts she wanted to see and feel so badly. The feeling of Emma’s hand on her bare skin gave Regina goose bumps. 

Emma moved her hand to the left, pushing the fabric covering Regina’s right breast out of the way. She could feel the swell of Regina’s breast and soon a slightly hardened nipple under her touch. This blouse had to go, so she lifted her hand up again and used both hands to finally free Regina of the piece of clothing. Now in full view in front of her Emma’s eyes took in the sight of Regina’s gorgeous breast as she licked her lips. They were bigger than her own, the areolas and nipples were darker than hers too, they were magnificent. Emma cupped both breasts in her hands before taking the nipples between her fingers and softly squeezing them, rolling them between her fingers, feeling them getting even harder because of her touch. Feeling the effect she had on Regina and hearing Regina whimper as she played with the brunette’s breasts she felt a wave of heat going through her body, reaching her core. She could feel the wetness increase between her legs. 

Regina loved the way Emma touched her and she could feel her panties getting wet from her arousal. She needed to taste Emma again, so she raised a hand and gently put her fingers under Emma’s chin and tilted the blonde’s head up so her eyes were meeting her own. Then she leaned in and pressed their lips together, soon deepening the kiss. The feel of hands on her breasts and those sweet lips and tongue caressing hers made her whole body tingle with pleasure, but she wanted more. She broke their kiss and started nipping on Emma’s bottom lip before pulling it between her teeth and biting softly on it, she then sucked on it and released it with a pop. 

Their eyes met again and Regina could see the desire in those green orbs. With a little smirk on her face she seductively said, “Emma, I want to feel your mouth on my body.”  
Smirking back Emma replied, “I want you to lay down so I can undress you completely.”  
They changed positions, Emma who was still only wearing a towel, got up from Regina’s legs, so the brunette could fulfil Emma’s request. Emma then let her fingers slide underneath the hem of Regina’s pyjama bottoms and started to pull it down. To help Emma free her from the dreadful thing that was covering her body Regina pushed her hips up. As the pants slid over those curved hips and past Regina’s underwear Emma noticed a dark spot of wetness between those beautiful legs, betraying just how aroused and ready Regina was. She flung the pants across the room and then let her eyes rake over Regina’s body. However, Emma didn’t remove the last piece of fabric on Regina that was soaked with wetness. Instead Emma sat herself down with one of Regina’s legs between her own and then leaned forward capturing on of the brunette’s stiff peaks of her breasts between her lips. The move made Regina let out a moan as she felt Emma’s hot mouth encircling her nipple, teasing it with her tongue, grazing it with her teeth, biting it softly and using on of her free hands to play with her other nipple. 

The sounds of pleasure coming from Regina made Emma need some friction of her own. While still fondling with Regina’s breasts, but now pulling the other nipple between her teeth, she let herself settle down on Regina’s leg with more pressure and slowly started moving her hips. The friction she felt in her centre caused her to moan against Regina’s breast. 

Regina could feel Emma grinding against her leg and was reminded that the saviour wasn’t wearing any panties herself. She could feel Emma’s wetness on her skin, a slick trace of arousal being left on her leg, and she loved it. She loved that just the sight of her, the feel of her, could make Emma so excited. It also increased the wetness pooling, and the throbbing between her own legs. She needed Emma there, she needed her there soon…and she wanted to see Emma naked.

“Emma?”

Emma released the nipple in het mouth and looked up at Regina. Regina propped herself up on het elbows so she could get a good look at the way Emma was hovering over her. 

“I want you to take of your towel, dear.”

The dark, lust filled eyes looking at her and the low voice made Emma shiver. She sat up straight and moved her hands to the place where the towel covered her breasts and with a swift move, she removed it from her body and the bed. She felt a little exposed for the first second or two, but any shyness she felt soon disappeared as she saw Regina’s tongue darting out between her parted lips and letting it slide over her lips. Regina took a moment to admire the soft but firm looking breasts of Emma. They were not as large as her own, but beautiful none the less, and the nipples had a nice pink colour. Emma smirked as she saw they way Regina was admiring her, it made her feel confident. She was going to give Regina her love, and she was going to do it now. 

Emma bend down so her mouth was next to Regina’s ear. As she spoke her breath ghosted against the earlobe, “I am going to make you scream when you come for me.” Before Regina had the chance to make a smart quip, Emma pulled her earlobe between her teeth and then covered it with her lips, sucking on it. All Regina could let out was a moan. Emma travelled down with her mouth to Regina’s neck, tracing a path with her tongue, only to stop at the clavicle and placing soft kisses there before she continued to work her way down. She kissed each of Regina’s nipples again, then her stomach, and soon reached the hem of Regina’s underwear. For a moment she let her fingers slip under the band, but she decided she was going to tease Regina first. She left the piece of clothing for what it was and changed her own position. She lost the feel of Regina’s leg between her own, but that was going to be worth it. Emma slipped her hands up the inside of Regina’s thighs and spread her legs, this caused the scent of Regina’s arousal to hit Emma’s nose, and what a sweet scent it was. She let her fingers ghost the warm flesh of the inner thighs, slowly working their way to Regina’s centre, but not touching.

Regina, still propped up on her elbows was looking down her own body, seeing Emma teasing her. It was driving her insane, but at the same time felt so incredibly good. However, she needed more from Emma, she needed release. In a breathy voice she asked, no she commanded, with a hint of Mayor Mills in her voice, “Fuck me.”

This made Emma look up from the wet spot on Regina’s panties. What she saw was pure lust in Regina’s eyes, desire, eyes filled with fire and darkness at the same time. Emma was more then happy to finally give Regina what she wanted, what she needed, she had teased her long enough. She focused back on the apex of Regina’s thighs. 

Emma let a finger ghost over the dark spot on the panties, making Regina squirm. Without hesitation Emma now pulled the panties down, revealing the already glistening folds of Regina’s centre. She let on finger tracing those wet folds al the way up to Regina’s clit, and then encircled the bundle of nerves with her own wetness.

That motion alone, feeling Emma using her own juices to be able to smoothly circle her clit, almost made Regina cum. Her hips started bucking and she felt like she was losing control. She tried to calm herself a little by taking deep breaths and then concentrated again on the pleasure that Emma’s touch gave her and let her head fall back. 

Emma felt her own arousal rising at the sight of Regina bucking her hips. It was her doing that made Regina lose control over her body and that was the ultimate turn on.  
She looked up at Regina, who had now tilted her head backwards and was fondling with her own breasts, rolling her nipples between her fingers.

Emma stopped circling the bundle of nerves with her finger and placed the wet finger at the entrance of Regina’s opening. She pushed it inside and felt barely any resistance because Regina was so incredibly soaked. She quickly added a second finger. The feel of Regina’s ridged, soft, wet and warm inside was amazing. There was more resistance now, but Emma felt like Regina could use and handle more. She pushed a third finger in, earning her an audible gasp coming from Regina’s mouth, followed by a, “Oh fuck”. 

Emma smirked and set a nice steady pace with her fingers, while Regina moved along with the rhythm she established. Now all that she wanted to do was taste Regina. Emma leaned in and let her tongue trace a path through Regina’s wet folds, from were she was working her opening, al the way up to that throbbing clit. A moan escaped Regina as Emma worked her magic, because it certainly felt like magic to Regina. She had never enjoyed sex as much as she was doing now. 

Emma savoured the taste of Regina on her tongue, it was deliciously sweet. She let her tongue circle Regina’s clit and then took the bundle of nerves between her lips and started sucking on it, while still moving her fingers inside of Regina. 

Regina could feel she was nearing the edge quickly as Emma kept sucking on her clit vigorously. Her muscles started tensing through her whole body, her breath was getting uneven, she felt like she was going to explode. She wanted to hang on a little longer, enjoying the feeling of being on that edge, but she couldn’t hold out anymore, she screamed, “O my god, Emma…..I….I’m cumming”. 

Emma could feel Regina’s walls clenching around her fingers, hips bucking and muscles tensing and a gush of wetness drenching her hand. She left her fingers inside, waiting and watching as Regina rode out her orgasm and came down from her high. She placed a soft kiss on Regina’s clit and then looked up again. 

As Regina rode out her orgasm she felt the muscles in her body relax again, she splayed down on her back on the bed and opened her eyes. She felt Emma removing her fingers from inside of her and soon saw her girlfriend hovering over her. Her eyes filled with love. If possible it made Regina’s insides even warmer. Regina smiled, Emma smiled back. Emma took in the blush that was glowing on Regina’s face. She did that to her, and it made her feel very satisfied with herself.

“God I love you”. 

Regina chuckled, “I love you too, dear”. 

Emma raised a hand and revealed glistening fingers soaked with Regina’s cum. She seductively put her fingers into her mouth one by one and licked them clean. The boldness of the move surprised Regina, but made her feel heat surging through her veins again. 

“You taste amazing, you know.”

“Let me have a taste then, kiss me, Emma.”

Emma leaned down and captured Regina’s lips with her own. Regina could taste herself on the blonde’s lips and deepened the kiss, craving more of that sweetness. 

When they broke the kiss, Emma saw Regina’s eyes had darkened again, those eyes full of lust would be the death of her some day. 

Regina wanted to return the favour and give Emma a much deserved, mind blowing, orgasm. She wasn’t going to tease the blonde like she did to her, those skills she would use another time. Right now all she wanted was to taste the essence that was Emma. 

As Regina put her hands on Emma’s behind, she said, “I want to taste you, dear.” The way she said those words made Emma feel the wetness between her legs increasing once again. Emma felt Regina raise one of her hands off her behind and then spanking it while saying, “You’re going to have to move up dear”, with a smirk on her face. Emma finally got the idea her girlfriend had and made her way up. When she had Regina’s face between her legs, she lowered herself down so Regina would have no trouble reaching her centre, and grabbed the headboard of the bed with her hands for support. 

Regina licked her lips as she took in the sight of Emma’s pink, wet folds, and the sweet tang of Emma’s arousal. She placed her hands on the blonde’s hips and pulled her a little further down to make sure they were in the best position for this adventure. 

Regina places several kisses on Emma’s inner thighs, before placing one directly on Emma’s clit. She could feel Emma’s body tremble at the touch, it made her smirk. She traced a long path with her tongue over Emma’s folds, all the way from her opening to the sensitive bundle of nerves. Then she pressed her tongue against Emma’s opening, earning a moan of pleasure when she dipped it inside as far as she could. 

Emma tightened her hold of the headboard of the bed. She was so incredibly sensitive just from all the things she did to Regina just a moment ago that she was on edge already. She breathed out saying, “God Regina…”

Regina felt Emma was pretty close to cumming already, she could feel muscles tightening. She pulled her tongue out of Emma’s opening and moved up to the bundle of nerves. She grazed it softly with her teeth and then started sucking on it with the same vigour as Emma had done to her. She felt completely in control even though she was the bottom and Emma the top. She could feel the effect her efforts had on the blonde. She could feel Emma was losing control over her body. She could taste the arousal, hear the uneven short breaths, and the delicious whimpers that escaped Emma’s mouth. It wouldn’t be long now…

Emma felt Regina sucking hard on her clit, she wouldn’t last long. It was so intense, it just felt so amazing. A first wave of pleasure engulfed her and she cried out, “Fuck, Regina.” She couldn’t stop her hips from bucking, but Regina tightened her hold on her hips and kept her in position. Regina didn’t stop sucking on her clit, so a second wave soon followed the first one. And still Regina didn’t stop eating her out. When she came for the third time in a row she couldn’t keep herself upright anymore. She lost all strength in her muscles. 

Regina could feel Emma was completely spent and helped Emma get up so she could splay herself on the bed next to her. 

Both breathing heavily they just lay next to each other for a moment, both coming down from their high. 

Regina was the first to roll over on her side, so she could take in the after glow of Emma’s orgasms that was clearly displayed on her face. 

Regina lifted up her hand and gently caressed Emma’s stomach and smiled. Emma turned her face and when she saw Regina smiling at her, she felt extremely happy and smiled back. Then she rolled on her side as well and with on hand she pulled Regina in for a kiss. She could taste a mix of herself and Regina on the brunette’s lips and tongue and she loved it. 

When they broke apart they leaned their foreheads together and just gazed into each others eyes for a moment. 

“I love you my Queen”, Emma said with such an earnest tone that it almost made Regina tear up. 

“And I love you my Princess”. 

Regina gave Emma a last peck on the lips before she buried her face in the crook of Emma’s neck and put an arm around the blonde’s waist. They were both so satisfied, but tired that it only took a minute for them to fall asleep in each others arms…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it :)


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

As Regina began to wake up she could feel she was still lying in Emma’s arms and that her girlfriend was softly stroking through her hair with her fingers. Those incredibly talented fingers, Regina thought to herself as she kept her eyes closed and pretended to still be asleep, so she could enjoy thinking about last night for a moment and enjoy Emma’s current ministrations. 

Last night was…. magical. Never in my life have I felt so aroused, safe, alive, satisfied and loved, all at the same time. This new experience with Emma was truly wonderful. Emma was magnificent and responsible for the best sex I have ever had. I am so happy, she makes me so happy, I never want to let her go. Regina couldn’t help the fact that the corners of her lips turned upwards in a smile as she reminisced about her own newfound skills in the bedroom. Just thinking about how I made Emma cum three times makes me feel awfully accomplished in some strange way, it’s almost embarrassing. Damn, I should really think about something else, I can feel my desire increasing again. O god, Emma is raking her nails over my scalp, this feels so good. Regina then felt Emma’s fingers traveling down, passing behind her ear and fingertips now grazing her throat. 

Emma had seen the smile on Regina’s face just a moment ago and decided she could go a little further. She had known Regina was pretending to still be asleep, because Emma herself had been awake for 20 minutes now and had been admiring her sleeping Queen. She knew Regina was awake as soon as her soft, but adorable snoring stopped. She figured Regina didn’t move or open her eyes because her girlfriend was enjoying her touch, so she continued carefully stroking Regina’s hair and thought about last night. Amazing is the first word that comes to my mind. I can hardly believe it was both our first time with a woman, it just….went so easily, it felt so natural, it was the best experience of my life! I am the luckiest girl in the world for having Regina as my lover, she is a Queen, my Queen, the Queen of the most mind-blowing sex ever, and we’re just getting started with this. I wanna marry her some day….wow, Emma hold up here….did I really just think to myself that I want to get married? To Regina? I must be losing my mind. Not that I don’t want to be with Regina for the rest of my life, because I don’t think I could ever live without her, actually I just know I can’t, but thinking about marriage, so soon? I need to snap out of this ridiculous train of thoughts.

As Emma let her fingers rake over Regina’s neck she softly said, “I know you’re just pretending to be asleep you know?” She smiled when she saw Regina moving her head and looking up at her. Seeing those brown eyes set her heart aflutter. 

Regina lifted her head up and tilted it somewhat, “How did you know?”

Emma smiled, “Well, I have been awake for a little while and up until the point you woke up, you were still snoring.”

Regina gasped and furrowed her brows, “I told you before, I do not snore.”

Emma chuckled and shook her head at the stubbornness and denial her girlfriend was showing. She lifted her hand up and caressed Regina’s cheek, “Yes, you do. I’m not lying and neither did Henry when he said you do to snore. I don’t mind though, it’s not loud.” Loud, haha not as loud as she was last night..

Regina wanted to comment once more on the accusation, but she suddenly saw that Emma had something else on her mind at the moment, a grin was displayed on her face.

“Why are you grinning like a fool?” Her eyes narrowing as she looked at the blonde. 

Emma shrugged, “O just…nothing.”

“I don’t buy that for one second.”

“Okay, I was just remembering the promise I made to you last night.”

“What promise might that be?” Regina could see the mischief in Emma’s eyes and a smirk appearing on her face.

“That I would make you scream, and you did. You’re pretty loud, I love that you are not afraid to be vocal and just let yourself go. And grateful that you used a silence spell on the room, because we would have scarred our son for life if he heard us.” Emma said while giving Regina a wink. 

Regina could feel she was probably blushing heavily, her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

“Well…well you weren’t exactly silent either.”

“That’s very true, but I think we know who wins this competition and it ain’t me.”

Regina let out a sigh, Emma could be so childish sometimes. Thankfully she really did seem to mean it went she said she didn’t mind some acoustic feedback while making love. It was a new experience for herself, to be honest.

Regina pushed herself up so she could change her position. She wanted to be even closer to Emma, just for a moment, before she would get up out of bed and take a shower. Regina slid under the cover and re-emerged hovering over Emma and then gently let herself down so their bodies would lie flush against each other. She then put her arms over Emma’s sides, laid down her head just under Emma’s and held the blonde tight. 

Emma smiled at the somewhat unexpected move, but she didn’t mind at all. Feeling Regina lying on top of her was the best, feeling Regina holding her so tight was even better. It made her feel wanted and loved. Emma put her hands on Regina’s back and gently started rubbing circles on it. 

After spending a few minutes in a comfortable silence Regina said, “Last night you were spectacular, my princess.”  
This made Emma chuckle, “You were magnificent too, my majesty. We were amazing together.” 

“Yes, we were. However, it’s your majesty, dear. It is in fact a quality in a person, not a title. It means ‘you who are majestic’, if you say my majesty you are referring to yourself as being majestic.”

Emma rolled her eyes, “Way to ruin the moment, babe. You sound like my mother teaching her fourth grade English class.”

This comment earned Emma a pinch in her side, it didn’t hurt though. 

“Please, do not compare me to your mother, that’s how you ruin a moment.”

They both had to laugh at their own silliness.

“I should get up, we are in need of a shower and breakfast. I’m quite hungry.”

“That’s what you get after nightly activities”. Emma placed a kiss on top of her girlfriends head.

Regina meanwhile mustered all her strength to get up, before completely leaving Emma’s warm arms she crawled a little higher and gave Emma a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. After that, she finally succeeded in getting up and went into the bathroom for a much needed shower.

=======================================================================================

Henry left his bedroom and was on his way downstairs for breakfast when he heard something very unusual, something he had no recollection of hearing ever before in his life, something that touched his heart.

He made his way to the kitchen as stealthily as he could, so he wouldn’t interrupt the person in there. He peered around the corner only to discover that it was his mom who was singing a song* while setting the breakfast table and making pancakes. The melodic tone escaping her lips took him by surprise, it was beautiful. He leaned back behind the wall, closed his eyes and then he just listened.

“Falling in over my head  
Caught out, out of my depth  
Trying to find my way, I am lost  
So I'm running around in circles through it all

Close, close my eyes  
Sleep, sleep tonight  
Adrift upon your ocean, I can hide  
No more running around in circles for a while

Will you catch me when I fall?  
Will you save me from it all?  
Will you lay me down in golden like a doll?  
And be my sunshine through the night  
Be my hope when all is gone  
Be my soldier while I try to fight on  
Will you keep on loving me through it all?  
Will you be there to catch me when I fall?

Calling, calling your name  
Save me, save me again  
Adrift upon your ocean, I am blind  
No more running around in circles in my mind

Will you catch me when I fall?  
Will you save me from it all?  
Will you lay me down in golden like a doll?  
And be my sunshine through the night  
Be my hope when all is gone  
Be my soldier while I try to fight on  
Will you keep on loving me through it all?  
Will you be there to catch me when I fall?

Adrift upon your ocean, I am blind  
No more running around in circles in my mind

Will you catch me when I fall?  
Will you save me from it all?  
Will you lay me down in golden like a doll?  
And be my sunshine through the night  
Be my hope when all is gone  
Be my soldier while I try to fight on  
Will you keep on loving me through it all?  
Will you be there to catch me when I fall?  
Will you keep on loving me through it all?  
Will you be there to catch me when I fall?”

When the song was over Henry opened his eyes and and let out a soft sigh. The words his mother sang touched him. He could feel that his mom must be very happy at the moment, despite everything that had happened in her life that was so unfair and cruel when she didn’t deserve it. Finding her way back to herself after all the darkness she didn’t and did choose, had been though, but she managed to be strong and survive. She managed to find the light within herself, that was once lost. It hadn’t been an easy journey though, and she was still struggling sometimes to push through and past the darkness. It is an undeniable part of her and she knew it. But there was light in this darkness, there was Emma, her soldier, her saviour. The one person in her life that she would allow to actually be the sunshine through the night and give her hope. The one person she was never letting go anymore. The one person she hoped would always be there for her and would always love her, through all that life would throw at them. 

Henry took a breath and entered the kitchen. “Good morning mom”, he walked up to Regina who had turned around from facing the stove and was surprised to see her son up already. Before she could return Henry’s good morning, she felt his arms around her waist and his head against her shoulder while he embraced her. She smiled and sighed, Henry had probably heard her singing. It used to be a secret hobby of hers, when she was still young. Up until the point where Cora had killed Daniel and made her marry the King. Music just didn’t seem to be able to make her forget all the horrible things in her life anymore, so she gave up on it. Until now. She was finally happy, she had Emma as her girlfriend and this amazing son that was hugging her so tightly right now. She let her chin rest on top of her sons head and hugged him back. 

When Henry released her, she did the same. She saw him wiping what appeared to be a tear from his face and then he smiled at her. “I am so happy for you mom. I am so glad that you and ma have finally found each other. I…I have never heard you sing like that before, it was mesmerizing.”

Regina smiled softly at her son, “Thank you Henry, but please remember that not just Emma is responsible for me finding music and my happiness again, you are both responsible for that, my prince.”

Henry tilted his head and smiled back at his mom, “It would make a great wedding song”.

Regina let out an audible gasp and her mouth fell open, “Henry, what are you talking about?”

“Well, just that this would be a great song for when you get married to ma, to me the words symbolize love, hope, getting through the harder times that are a part of life together, forever. So, it would make a beautiful wedding song.”

“Maybe, but Emma and I are not getting married, Henry. We only just begun this relationship.”

“I disagree, of course the whole romantic side of your relationship together has only just begun, but you know each other. You have been best friends for so long. You trust each other, you are confidantes, you are true loves. It’s all you need, it’s everything.”

“But Henry….”

“But what? You love Emma don’t you?” 

“With all my heart”.

“Then marry her, mom.” 

Regina’s heart was pounding in her chest as she took in all the thing her son said to her. Marrying Emma, it was a crazy thought, but on the other hand she would love nothing more then to make Emma hers, forever…

“I will…...”

“You will?, Henry practically shouted enthusiastically.

“I wasn’t finished talking yet Henry, you know it’s rude to interrupt. As I was saying, I will marry Emma…. someday.”

Henry let his head fall down at the moment Regina said ‘someday’.

Regina stepped closer to him and lifted his head up by placing a hand underneath his chin. 

“Don’t act like I just disappointed you Henry. I said I will marry your mother; I just don’t think we are ready for this yet. I mean… I would marry her in a heartbeat, but I don’t think that now would be the right time to ask her. I told her we should get used to living with each other first and I already asked her to move in with us. I don’t want her to feel overwhelmed by proposing to her so soon. You do understand, don’t you?”

Maybe, his mom was right. Maybe he was being a tad optimistic, or even unrealistic. But hey, they were sort of living a fairytale anyway, right?

Henry shrugged, “I guess you are right, sorry if I pushed too hard”. 

“It’s okay, I love you, my prince.”

“I love you too, mom”.

=======================================================================================

Meanwhile, unbeknown to Regina and Henry, Emma had accidentally eavesdropped from the hallway upstairs, where she was leaning on the balustrade of the stairs. As soon as Emma finished her shower and got dressed she was on her way to the kitchen, and just like Henry, she heard Regina’s singing from upstairs. It caused her to stop dead in her tracks and just listen in awe to that enchanting voice and the words that were spoken after the song had ended. 

She wiped away the tears that had spilled from her eyes, it just made her so emotional. Hearing Regina sing touched her soul. Hearing Regina and Henry discussing, what she herself had dismissed as something stupid just a moment ago, warmed her heart. The fact that Regina would marry her in a heartbeat convinced her that her ideas weren’t stupid at all. She took a breath and decided that she would return to their bedroom for a moment. She was positive that if she was going to join her family now, that they would see the tear tracks on her face immediately. 

As she entered the en suite and took a look at herself in the mirror, she saw she was right. She looked awfully sad for someone who was feeling quite the opposite. She smiled at herself and softly said, “I am going to ask Regina to marry me, and it won’t be just someday. It’s going to be someday soon. I just need a good plan, and perhaps some help from our son. I need to think about how I’m going to do this, I want her to never forget it. I want to be the sunshine in her life, I want to give her hope when she has none and I want to continue to be her saviour. I want to be her lover, I want to catch her when she feels like she’s falling and love her through the good times and the bad times. I want to be able to conquer all hardship, that I know is a part of life and part of this town, with her and to be able to enjoy all the good things that will happen in our life together.”

“I’m going to marry Regina Mills…because she is everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The song I had Regina singing is called Catch Me When I Fall by The Corrs (which I obviously do not own and just borrowed). You can find it on YouTube if you want to listen to it.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

As Emma entered the kitchen, she tried to play it cool and did her best not to rush to Regina and engulf her in a hug. She had to make sure not to think about the singing she heard only moments ago, and the talk between Regina and their son. It did cost her a lot of restraint, but she managed to join Henry and Regina at the breakfast table without acting too strange, she hoped.   
She took in all the tasty things Regina had prepared for them; pancakes with pieces of apple or chocolate chip, waffles, eggs, toast, fresh orange juice….it made her mouth water. 

“Good morning ma”, Henry said suddenly, forcing Emma out of her trance as she gazed at the food.

Emma turned her head and smiled at Henry, “Good morning, kid”.   
Then she turned to Regina as she placed 2 waffles, 1 pancake of each variety and a piece of toast on her plate. , “I have to say, I am so happy that I moved in with you, Regina.”

Regina looked up from her own plate and put down her fork, she smirked as she saw the stack of food Emma had placed on her plate. Food definitely was one of the ways to Emma’s heart. 

“And why is that, dear?”

“Because I get to enjoy your cooking every morning and every evening now”, Emma replied with a smile on her face.

Feigning to be disappointed, Regina furrowed her brows and tilted her head a little as she looked at her girlfriend, who was now attacking the chocolate chip pancake on her plate. To get Emma’s attention she cleared her throat, “Is that the only reason that you’re happy you have moved in here?” 

Emma was a little startled as she could clearly hear disappointment and a little sadness in Regina’s voice. She dropped her fork and looked up at Regina, who still kept her mask in place.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not just here for your amazing cooking, I was trying to pay you a compliment. I would even live with you if you were a horrible cook, like me. I am a little jealous of your skills in the kitchen, babe. As her charm offense continued, she suddenly heard Henry snorting next to her. She looked at him and saw he was trying to contain his laugh. Then she looked back at Regina who now had a corner of her lips turning upwards very slowly.

Emma narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend who was, as she had figured out by now, just toying with her and her emotions. “You two are terrible, Emma said while looking from Regina to Henry and back again. You, for making me think I said something to upset you and you kid, for having a field day with it and laughing at me.”

“As I recall, Emma, you and Henry did the almost do the same exact thing to me only yesterday. 

“Maybe, I sort of said I liked Henry’s joke about you burning breakfast yesterday…but I didn’t make you grovel.”

“Neither did I make you, dear. You did that all by yourself and I have to say it was rather enjoyable to witness”, Regina said with a chuckle. Seeing the pout on Emma’s face she sighed, “I was just messing with you a little, I know you live here because you love me and our son and not just my culinary skills.” The pouting on Emma’s face didn’t stop, rather she hung back in her chair, crossed her arms, turned her head away from Regina only to look at her son and kept on sulking. 

Regina didn’t notice the wink Emma gave Henry when she looked at him, because she busy rolling her eyes. Then she got up, leaving her breakfast for what it was for a moment. She strode over to Emma and placed a hand on her shoulder, then let her hand slide over the blonde’s arm to Emma’s hand. When she reached it she took her hand and pulled on it lightly, which caused Emma to un-cross her arms and follow Regina’s movement. As Regina pulled her girlfriend out of the chair she could feel Emma relax a bit. She placed both her hands on Emma’s shoulders and tried to meet the blonde’s eyes. 

What she saw was not what she thought she would see. She expected hurt or annoyance in Emma’s eyes, but Emma seemed to be unable to hide the sparkle in her eyes that only sent a warm feeling of love through Regina’s body. Apparently, she wasn’t the only actor in the room. 

“I think we are even now, you played me, dear. Your eyes give you away.”

“Do they now?”, Emma said feeling the corners of her mouth working their way up.

Regina nodded her head as she enjoyed the feeling of Emma snaking her arms around her waist. “They most definitely do, dear”. Then she let her own hands slide from Emma’s shoulders to her nape and pulled the blonde in for a soft and tentative kiss.

As they pulled back Regina looked at the breakfast table where Henry was keeping his head down and focusing intently on his food. He clearly didn’t dare to look up at his mothers to see if they had finished with kissing each other already. 

Emma saw it to and released Regina from her hold. Both women walked back to their seats and Emma said, “Henry, it’s safe to look up, the show is over.”

“Okay, good. Now can we finish our breakfast without you two being so sappy and playful?”

“I am not sappy, Henry”, Regina said to her son.

“Oh, believe me, you are most definitely a huge sap. You’re the Queen of sappiness.”

“Haha, the Queen of sappiness isn’t Regina, Henry. I think my mother qualifies for that one.”, Emma said while laughing. Regina nodded her head in agreement.

“She used to be, yes, but I think you two have stolen that throne and title from my grandparents.”

Regina thought about how she felt about this, “Maybe their son was right, maybe she had indeed become quite the softy in the last couple of days, and a little clingy perhaps. But she really couldn’t help it, finally getting the thing she wanted most in her life, to be loved for being herself made her act this way and feel this way. It made her feel more like the person she used to be, before her life when to hell. However, she would never be that girl anymore because of all that has transpired in her life, but she was glad that girl wasn’t lost completely, that she apparently wasn’t lost for ever. Besides, beating Snow White herself at the thing she was most known for had its appeal, there was no denying that. From Evil Queen to the Queen of al saps, the Loving Queen. She scrunched up her nose a little at those titles, no those wouldn’t suit her, at all. Currently a sap or not, she would never want to claim that throne or title.” 

“Regina and I might indeed be a little mushy perhaps, but I guess that’s normal when you’re in love and frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am enjoying this phase of our relationship immensely. I hope, no, I know that I will always feel this way around your mother, because I will love her for the rest of my life. One day, I hope you’ll get to experience the same thing, Henry. As Emma’s thoughts caught up with the word she spoke she got nervous, “Did I just say for the rest of my life?”.

Meanwhile, Henry smirked when he heard Emma’s little slip of the tongue and Regina just looked a little shocked and stared at Emma. “Did she just say she’ll love me for the rest of her life?”

“Maybe…. maybe I should just ask Regina if she would marry me right now? I mean, this just kind of turned into a perfect moment for such a thing, didn’t it? No…I am not going to ask Regina to marry me while sitting at the breakfast table, I mean Henry is still wearing his pyjamas. I don’t even have a ring yet, or anything…God, what should I say next?”

Then all of the sudden everyone at the table got startled by the sound of the doorbell. 

Emma quickly rose from her seat and said, “I’ll get it, you two just finish your breakfast”.

Regina shook her head when Emma left to answer the door. 

“You heard that mom?”

“Heard what, Henry?”

“Ma saying that she will love you for the rest of her life?! Maybe you don’t have to wait so long to ask her to marry you after all, Henry said as he smiled an encouraging smile to his mother.

“Oh, Henry, you don’t know if Emma had anything like marriage on her mind when she said that, or if she even grasped the potential meaning of such a confession.” Regina furrowed her brows.

“I think she knows, mom. I think she scared herself by saying it out loud and that’s why she was so quick to get up and leave to answer the door. I am positive that she meant it though, she was being completely honest in her expression of her feelings for you.” 

Regina sighed and admitted, “I do believe she meant it, Henry. I could feel it and I could see her honesty in her eyes. I need to think about the whole possibility of proposing to your mother so soon though. I just…

“You just don’t want to be disappointed. You’re afraid that she’ll say no. I get it mom, but I promise you, she won’t say no.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Henry” ……

===================================================================

Regina and Henry’s conversation was interrupted by Emma who apparently was shouting at the person who had rang the door bell.

“YOU DID WHAT?”

Regina looked at Henry, who raised his eyebrows and in a silent conversation they agreed to rush to the foyer to see what was going on and who was at the door…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry it’s a tad on the short side perhaps, but I still have this cold and can’t even see properly through my watery eyes half the time :(
> 
> So, who's at the door and what have they done? Any thoughts?


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

As Regina and Henry entered the foyer they saw Emma pacing in circles and throwing her hands up in the air, all the while she was still raising her voice to the person standing in the doorway.

“Really? You came all the way here to tell me that you couldn’t keep your mouth shut for more than a few days? I can’t believe this. Emma stopped her pacing for a moment and ran a hand through her hair and furrowed her brows. She hadn’t noticed the presence of Regina and their son yet, so she continued, “And your excuse for blabbing is that you were drunk and it just slipped your mind that I wouldn’t want everyone in this town to know about me and Regina. Well, Ruby, it didn’t just slip your mind it spilled over your lips. Thank you very much for not respecting my privacy and wish on the matter.”

Regina watched with interest as she saw Emma freak out over…over what exactly…. over being with her, over everyone in town knowing of the fact?  
She felt a pang of hurt when she considered that Emma was so upset to learn that Ruby apparently had spilled the beans on the new development in their situation. 

She cleared her throat to announce her presence in the foyer.

When Emma heard what could only be Regina letting her know that she was standing right behind her now, she took a breath. It wasn’t fair for her to freak out so much about this new information. She could only imagine how this must make Regina feel, but she couldn’t help herself. She had told Regina that she wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed for being with her, for loving her. But she did mean it when she said that she would love it if they could just enjoy this in peace, without other people butting in or throwing their opinions at them, or gossiping about it. 

Emma turned around to face Regina, but before she could say or explain anything Regina looked past her, not wanting Emma to see that she had to bite back the tears in her eyes, and addressed Ruby. “Good morning Ruby, would you care to tell me what you are doing here?”

“Good morning Regina”, Ruby replied with a small questioning smile on her face since she really wasn’t sure if this would turn out to be a good morning or not. 

“I just told Emma that the blizzard had subsided not to late yesterday evening. Which allowed me and a few other people to go outside and have a drink together at The Rabbit Hole. Regina crossed her arms as she stood there, listening to Ruby telling her story.

“It was all fun and games, up until the moment that Grumpy challenged me to a drinking contest. The person who could hold his or her liquor the best, would win, you know standard rules and everything” …Seeing that Regina wasn’t impressed with her attempt to explain what had happened she quickly continued. “So anyway, as we were downing the shots of tequila I might have gotten a little drunk and told Grumpy I had the biggest scoop of the town, but that it was a secret and I couldn’t tell him what it was. A few drinks later however, I couldn’t stop myself from telling him anyway” …Ruby let out a sigh as she was finally getting to the point.

“I came here to let you know that I told Grumpy that you two, Emma and Regina, the Queen and the Saviour are in love with each other and are a couple.” After the confession she let her head fall down a little before adding, “I’m so sorry, I promised Mary-Margaret I wouldn’t say anything when she asked me not to.”

Before Regina could respond to the news that their secret was out and the way in which this had transpired, Henry said he would go upstairs and change out of his pyjamas, the cold, streaming in through the open door, from outside was making him shiver.  
When Henry left and went up the stairs Regina turned back to Ruby.

“Miss Lucas…Regina thought about scolding the brunette for being such a blabber mouth and for her indiscretion, but the fact was that Regina wasn’t feeling as upset with the woman as she probably should be. All Regina wanted was to be able to show she loves Emma, anyplace, anywhere, anytime. She really wasn’t as keen on the idea of keeping their relationship a secret, in fact she wanted to be able to shout it from the freaking rooftops, so to speak. She sighed, “Is that all?”

Emma and Ruby snapped their head in the direction of Regina, who was now standing beside Emma. Both being shocked to hear the acquiescence in her voice and the neutral expression in her face. 

“No…. not exactly”, Ruby then averted her eyes and stopped talking.

Emma lost her patience, again. “Well, just come out with it. What could be worse than this?”

“Uhh, there was this bet going on.” Ruby looked back up to the couple standing in front of her. Emma looked surprised, but Regina did not, maybe a little, but not really anyway.

“What kind of bet?, Emma said as she crossed her arms, matching Regina’s pose. 

“Well, we, meaning Grumpy and I, had set up this betting pool about a year and a half ago. Where people could be if you two, who had become the best of friends by then, would ever tell each other that you love each other. Both Grumpy and I betted that you would, there are a lot of people who didn’t see what we saw or didn’t believe either of you would ever have the courage to admit it and they betted against you.”  
Ruby cleared her throat before she continued, “The knowledge that you two have in fact now told each other how you feel and that you are in a relationship made Grumpy go out and kind of knock on all the doors of all the people who have entered the bet. And that are a lot of people…

“O my God, we have got to stop him”, Emma screeched and looked panicked.

“It’s too late for that. Apparently he went on his mission to collect his money right after I lost the drinking contest and he went knocking on doors all through the night. You are the hottest topic at the diner this morning. I just really thought you two should know this.”

Emma gulped, not being able to believe what is happening here. The whole bloody town must know by now. Her plan to enjoy being in love with Regina in private for a while had totally blown up in her face. She was frozen, totally unable to speak her mind.

Regina saw Emma’s distress and carefully placed her hand on Emma’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go into the living room and I’ll show Ruby out”. She ignored the fact that technically Ruby was never actually ‘in’ and still standing on the threshold between the doorframe. 

Emma nodded, still processing the information she was just given and walked over to the living room and sat herself down on the couch.

Regina and Ruby watched Emma walk away and when she was out of sight Ruby once again apologized to Regina.

Regina smiled a small smile, “She’ll be okay, goodbye Ruby”, then she closed the door, turned on her heel and made her way to the living room to have a talk with Emma.

===================================================================

Emma sat on the couch with her head in her hands thinking about this disaster. “What a way to turn a perfect morning in the perfect nightmare…Okay, perfect nightmare may be a slight over exaggeration. Everything was just so, nice. First remembering the most amazing perfect night I had with Regina, then hearing Regina sing and revealing her wish to marry me some day, to the playful back and fort during breakfast and the soft kiss on my lips…even the confession that I will love Regina for the rest of my life wasn’t as bad as this whole ordeal of everyone finding out this way. 

Then suddenly Emma felt the space on the couch next to her being filled and she could smell Regina’s apple shampoo and shower gel. This alone let her feel a bit lighter, it was comforting. She lifted her head up out of her hands and saw Regina looking at her. She suddenly felt bad again about how this made her freak out. The last thing she would want is Regina thinking she was ashamed of their relationship, she had to prevent this from happening. Spurred by the desire to not let Regina feel bad, she found her voice again.

“I’m sorry, Regina. I didn’t mean to freak out like I did.” Emma felt a blush of embarrassment creeping up her neck reaching her cheeks in an instance, as she thought about her behaviour. 

Regina reached out her hand and grabbed Emma’s. She then slowly let her thumb caress the back of the hand she was holding and nodded, “I know, you’re sorry, Emma. But I do feel like we should talk about this. You have told me you wanted to keep this a secret. You told me you wanted to avoid people comments and opinions for a while, but is that really all there is to it?

Meeting Emma’s eyes Regina could see them tearing up.

Emma wanted to tell Regina the truth, she deserved it. As she tried to hold back her tears she started explaining, “You are right, it’s not the only reason I don’t want anyone to know. Or at least, there is a reason behind my wish to not tell people yet. When I was still in the foster system I had told the people who took care of me then that I had feelings for a girl. I was about 15 or 16 years old back then. My honesty and openness cost my a fairly good home, because they sent me away soon after I told them. In the last days I stayed there, they just shunned me. Not just the parents, but also the other children. No one would talk to me, no one would react to my attempts at conversation and no one even looked at me anymore.” By now the tears had found it’s way down Emma’s cheeks, and Regina was hurting inside seeing and hearing this. 

“This is the reason why, since then, I would never tell anyone about my attraction to women. That was until I told my mother last week off course, but she also didn’t exactly welcome the revelation as you are well aware. I am just afraid that the townspeople will take it badly as well. That they might not respect me anymore and that I can no longer be their Sheriff. I know it sounds stupid and I know that you might face the same problems, but I just can’t seem to help but care about what people think, even though I really don’t want to and normally don’t. And now my worries might even be in vain as I just learned that people were actually placing bets on us so they might not be that shocked after all.”

A small smile appeared on Emma’s face and Regina returned it and squeezed Emma’s hand.

“I can not believe I totally missed that this was going on. I also can’t believe that people saw something between us that I didn’t 1,5 years ago. Or better said, that I didn’t want to see or allow myself to feel at that time, because I just thought it would be impossible and thinking about it would just hurt too much. Emma wiped her tears away and continued, “You know, I am not really mad at Ruby at all. I’m mad at myself, for being such a…such a…chicken.”

This made Regina chuckle, “You’re not a chicken Emma, she said sincerely. I can understand how awful you must have felt when you were young and not afraid to trust people you thought would understand, people who cared for you, with this personal information. I’m sorry they disappointed you so much and sent you away.”

“I’m just happy that it’s not me you are worried about. I mean, that it is not the fact that I am your girlfriend that makes you not want to share with people that you have a relationship.”

“Absolutely not, I am not nor will I ever be ashamed of you”, Emma replied and looked deep into Regina’s eyes. Feeling more confident now she finally told Regina why she had doubts about revealing personal details about herself she added, “I meant what I said just now in the kitchen, before I quickly walked away to answer the door. Even though it caught me a little of guard that I said it, and I hope it didn’t scare you, I’m going to say it once more. Emma lifted up her hands and cupped Regina’s cheeks, not breaking their eye contact and softly, but o so sincerely repeated the words that had sent Regina’s heart a flutter, “I will love you until the day I die”. And then they kissed.

 

THE END

 

Nah, just kidding, read on :p  
===================================================================

After kissing passionately, with teeth grazing, lips nipping, tongues caressing and hands roaming around everywhere, Regina and Emma unlocked their lips with a pop and smiled the most beautiful of smiles to each other. 

“I will love you for as long as I live too, my love.”

Then their moment was interrupted by Henry who was running down the stairs. 

In sync they both yelled, “Henry, no running in the house!”, which off course made them laugh and Henry just roll his eyes.

“Sorry moms, I was just enthusiastic about the weather outside. The blizzard finally stopped, we can go outside again. I really want a snowball rematch with you guys. This time I don’t have to lose on purpose. But remember, no magic allowed, he said with a smirk. 

“O and it might be fun to ask grandma and grandpa to join us. The more the merrier, right?”

Regina considered this for a moment, “Spending time with Snow and Charming might still not be my idea of fun, but a chance to hit Snow White with snowballs could be most satisfying. And be a little revenge for her impatience and disturbance of the final battle between Emma and myself.”

With a smirk on her face Regina answered her son, “I agree Henry, you should call your grandparents to meet us at the park at let’s say, 2 pm. if they’d like to.” That way we can have lunch at home first, because going to Granny’s might not be the best idea now.

“Are you okay with this plan, Emma?”

“Totally”. 

“Awesome, I’ll call them right away.” Henry yelled as he was already exiting the living room to grab his phone in the kitchen and call his grandparents. 

“Regina?”

“Yes, dear?”

“How come you didn’t really act surprised at all about this whole bet thing Ruby and Grumpy had going on?”

Regina bit her bottom lip as she thought about how she was going to tell Emma this.

“Well, this wasn’t the first time they made this bet.”

“Huh, what are you talking about?”

“Before the curse broke, right after the time we were both at the mines praying that Henry would be all right, Sydney Glass gave me information. As you know he was sort of my spy at the time, and reported to me about the activities of the townspeople and you.”

Emma nodded, she knew all about how Regina used Sydney back then to spy on her etcetera. 

“Apparently, some people noticed the moment we stood close and right in front of each other just before you were lowered down into the mines to get Henry. Grumpy had seen it too, and so he started a bet with Ruby. They believed, despite my horrible attitude, that I was attracted to you. He would win if we ever kissed. Ruby also believed it to be true and made the bet public so that others could participate in it.”

Emma’s mouth dropped open. This was even more surprising. They didn’t like each other at all back then, or did they?

“Anyway, the bet was off as soon as the curse broke and everyone realized who I was and who you are. I never knew they renewed the betting pool 1,5 years ago, though it was about more than just attraction now. But I knew they had done this sort of thing before, that’s why it didn’t surprise me.”

“Were they right?”

“About what?”

“Were you attracted to me back then?”

“Honestly…yes, yes I was. At some points I didn’t know whether to kill or to kiss you. One of those moments was at the mines and one of those moments was when you cut down a branch of my apple tree.”

A huge smirk appeared on Emma’s face as she took in this information. Madame Mayor had had the hots for her, ever since she came to town. But things were very different now, now there was more to their story than just physical attraction, there was love and understanding. They really knew each other now, and that was way more special than anything else. 

“Well, just for the record. When I first saw you right outside this house, I thought you were a total babe”, Emma said and added a wink.

“Thank you, dear”. Regina then leaned in and gave Emma a peck on the lips.

“You are aware of the fact that even though we are not going to Granny’s for lunch, because according to Ruby we are the talk of the day there. We might run into some people when we go to the park.”

“Yes, I’m aware, but I don’t care anymore. 

“What?” Regina raised her eyebrows at the remark Emma just made.

“I can’t believe it myself, but I don’t care anymore. I really don’t. Just talking to you and telling you about why I used to care made me realize that it’s a thing that keeps me from being truly happy with myself and that’s just not worth it. And besides, all I really need is you and Henry, and I know you’ll be there for me.”

“Good, and I always will. You really needn’t worry about the townspeople. Back in the Enchanted Forest it was not such a big deal when people of the same sex were in a relationship. It might have been less common for royalty, but here we are just Emma and Regina. They would have found out soon enough anyway, especially since you live with me now. Everything will be fine, I promise.”

“The fact that I’m okay with it now, doesn’t mean I’m not going to have a little revenge. I’m going to throw Grumpy’s ass in jail for illegal gambling when I see him…”

“If it makes you feel better, you do that.”

“Hey moms, grandma and grandpa agreed to meet us at the park this afternoon. They will first bring Neal over to Ashley, so he can play with Alexandra and then we’ll meet up.”

“That’s great kid.”

“Will you both play Mario Kart with me”, Henry then asked and tilted his head a bit so he appeared extra cute and couldn’t possibly be denied in his request.

Emma and Regina looked from Henry to each other and shook their heads as they silently agreed they had the cutest kid in the world and they would oblige him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cat's out of the bag. I hope you liked the chapter.
> 
> I have created a Twitter account named @SQ_Delta_SQ if you have Twitter and you’d like to follow/tweet me, you know where to find me :)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank so much for the sweet reviews, the follows and favs :D   
> This chapter is posted a few hours later then normal, sorry. But one of the reasons is that it is extra long and I wrote it all today so it took a bit more time.

“You lose again, mom!” Henry shouted in excitement as he claimed his victory.

Regina was about to toss the controller onto the floor she was sitting on, that’s how annoyed she was. Even after trying at least 15 times to beat either Emma or her son at this stupid game she didn’t manage to succeed a single time. It was frustrating… 

Emma noticed Regina’s annoyance and saw her girlfriend raising her hand to shatter the controller to pieces. It was a funny and endearing sight to see, even if it was a little childish perhaps. Before Regina could release what she now considered to be a thing that was only meant to taunt her onto the floor, she felt Emma’s hand coming to rest on her shoulder. The touch made her forget her frustration for a moment and caused her to tilt her head backwards and look up at Emma, who was sitting on the couch behind her.

Still seeing the remnants of Regina’s determination to destroy the piece of plastic she was holding made Emma chuckle. Regina squinted her eyes at her girlfriend who was now hovering over her face as she leaned forward from her position on the couch. 

Before making a comment Emma bend over further and placed a chaste kiss on Regina’s forehead. “Babe, I think I’m going to help you this next round.”

Regina quirked an eyebrow, “How are you going to do that?”

Emma let herself slide down from the couch and sat herself behind Regina, she spreads her legs and pulls Regina in a little closer between her legs so Regina’s back was pressed up against her front. Then she looked at Henry, who just shrugged and nodded when she asked him if it’s okay for her to help his mom. Emma then let her lips brush against Regina’s neck and whispered in her ear, “Like this”, as she passed both her arms around the brunette’s waist and joined their hands together around the controller.

The unexpected move and contact sent a shiver through Regina’s spine. Focus Regina!  
Emma noticed the tremble of the brunette’s body and tried to hold back the smirk she felt forming on her face. 

“You guys finally ready to play, I’m on a roll here, let’s go!, Henry said.

“Yup, we’re all set, kid”.

Henry had been surprised at how fast Emma was able to teach his mom the ropes of playing this game. After being beaten 5 times in a row he had had enough of this and was relieved to see that it was nearly lunch time. “I think we better quite playing now, moms. I’m getting hungry and it’s almost lunch time”. 

Regina looked at the clock and saw her son was right, but she had also heard the frustration in his voice, betraying that he was getting fed up with being bested at his own game. “I don’t need a lot of time to make lunch, Henry. We can do a couple more rounds, I’m on a roll you know.” The last part of the sentence she tried to imitate the way her son had said those words to her not to long ago. 

Henry rolled his eyes, “Yes, mom, you’re actually doing pretty great, maybe you can even get better than Emma if you practice a bit.”

The compliment from her son made her smile. “Thank you Henry, I think I’m going to make lunch now like you asked, because as I recall we have another game to play this afternoon with your grandparents and we don’t want to be late.”

Feeling relieved his mom got up and went into the kitchen he let out a sigh, it couldn’t be true that both his moms would eventually get better at this game than himself now, could it? Then he felt an arm nudging him in his side.

“Hey kid, I resent that comment. There is no way that your mom will ever be able to beat me at this game. I’ll never let that happen.”

Henry just smiled and shrugged, “ I don’t know mom, she appears to be a fast learner”…

As Regina was keeping herself busy with making their lunch in the kitchen she was smiling at herself as she had managed to beat her son at his game 5 times in a row. Of course Emma’s help and through explanation of how she could make certain moves to help her beat the opponent had helped immensely. She had been just a novice at this gaming thing as she never tried it before. She enjoyed it more than she had held possible and wouldn’t say no if her son, or Emma would want to play again. Her next goal would be to beat Emma and claim the title of Mario Kart Champion of the family. 

“Regina?”

Regina turned around to see Emma standing in the kitchen with the phone in her hand. 

“It’s Michael Tillman, for you.”

“O”, Regina said as she walked towards Emma and took the phone from her hand. She had a feeling as to what this call was about.

===================================================================

After they had finished their lunch, Regina had to go to city hall once again. But this time not to tell the townspeople that public offices and the school will be closed, but to announce that they will in fact be open tomorrow. The news that Michael Tillman had received the replacement part for the snowplough early and that he already fixed the machine were responsible for that. He would start on clearing the roads today and work the evening as well, so driving would be possible again in the morning.

This meant that she had to go back to work and Henry had to go back to school. Today would be the last day of the little fairy tale she was living in right now. Work and other responsibilities of ‘real’ life would get in the way of constantly being together with her family. She loved being mayor of this town and she was very good at her job, that’s not the problem. The problem was that she had somehow expected to be able to enjoy a whole week of family time, but now the snowplough was fixed and the blizzard had subsided.

Emma could see that Regina wasn’t all to happy to go to city hall before she left, but decided to bring that up later. She herself had received a phone call too. She was a woman on a mission…

“Henry, I have got to go and meet David at the Rabbit Hole. He called to say that he and mom might be late for our snowball fight because apparently Grumpy is there and he’s drunk already at this hour. I myself requested to be able to arrest that little dwarf personally and throw his ass in jail.”

“Yeah, yeah, you go. I’ll behave and just continue playing Minecraft while you and mom are out.”

….

“So, Emma, why did you insist on coming with me to the Rabbit Hole?” David asked as he walked up to Emma who was waiting for her deputy to show up. 

Guessing that David had been as unaware of the bet as she and Regina had been she explained to her father what had happened that night and morning according to Ruby and what Grumpy had done.

“I mean; can you believe it. He has knocked on almost every door of every house in this town to collect his winnings, at my expense, at Regina’s expense. Everybody knows and I had no control over it whatsoever. It really pisses me off.”

“You really wanted to keep your relationship with Regina a secret?”, David asked in a caring tone of voice. 

Emma sighed, “I wanted to, yes. I had my reasons, but I’ve talked about it with Regina and I am okay with everyone knowing. I just wish I had a bit more control over it and I still have doubts about how people are going to respond to this. On the other hand, it does have its advantages. We don’t have to hide our affection for each other in public and sneak around and stuff”.

“I think that would be a little hard anyway since you have moved in with the Mayor. That news would have spread fast too, I’m sure of it. And people would have drawn their conclusion from that.”

“Yeah that’s what Regina said too and I guess they would have. The point is, I just think it’s wrong to do something like this behind someone’s back. Grumpy was supposed to be my friend.”

David put his hand on Emma’s shoulder and gave his daughter a small smile, “Everything will be okay, baby girl. Now let’s go inside this bar and check out how drunk our friend is.”

As they entered the bar the first thing they noticed was all the dwarfs and some other townspeople singing together and Grumpy sitting at the bar with what appeared to be a bag full of cash. Nobody had noticed their arrival yet. 

“ANOTHER ROUND ON ME BARTENDER! “Grumpy shouted over all the ruckus his friends were making.

“THEY CAN HAVE MORE, BUT YOU CAN’T. YOU’RE DRUNK GRUMPY, I HAVE CALLED THE DEPUTY TO COME AND GET YOU OUT OF HERE SO YOU CAN SOBER UP!”, the bartender responded back.

“AH WHAT, I AM JUST CELEBRATING, YOU BIG SPOILSPORT!”

David and Emma watched the shouting match between the two men with interest. David then looked at Emma and asked, “So, what’s the plan?”

Emma smirked, “I’m going to surprise him, watch me”. Emma then stalked over to the bar and took a seat next to Grumpy.

“Well, well, what do we have here”, Emma said as she placed her hands on the bag full of cash that Grumpy had placed on the bar counter.

As the sounds of the Sheriffs’ voice reached his ears, Grumpy turned around.

“HEY SISTER FROM ANOTHER MISTER! ARE YOU JOINING THE PARTY I AM THROWING HERE FOR YOU? He then looked around as if he was searching for someone before continuing. WHERE IS MADAME MAYOR?!”

Damn, was Grumpy drunk. He smelled like a beer brewery and his speech slurred a bit.

“You don’t have to shout; I can hear you. I’m sitting right next to you, and what do you mean by the party you’re throwing for me?” Emma said as she quirked an eyebrow at the dwarf. 

Grumpy didn’t get a chance to answer the question he was just asked. His shouting had attracted the attention of the other dwarfs and soon they surrounded Emma and Grumpy.

“Congratulations, sheriff Swann”, “Congratulations Emma!”, Emma couldn’t count the times she heard people congratulate her, or actually she could since there were seven dwarfs…

She was taken aback, of everything she had been expecting to hear when people found out she and Regina were a couple now, this certainly was not it. Far from it actually. All she could do was give the dwarfs a small smile and shake the hands they extended to her. She honestly didn’t know what to say. 

David was looking at the spectacle with wide eyes before he chuckled to himself at the behavior of their friends. Even the dwarfs that weren’t drunk seemed to be very enthusiastic. 

When everyone had congratulated Emma it took her a moment to find her voice again, and to remember what she came to do exactly. 

“I….I don’t know what to say….why are you all congratulating me?”

Grumpy answered the question, still slurring his speech, “Why, to congratulate you on finally letting the Mayor know how you feel about her of course.”

“Okay…but why are you so happy about it? I thought you would be the kind of person who would think she put a hex on me or something to make me fall in love with her. You often called her the Evil Queen…”

“That may be true, and I am not a big fan of madam Mayor personally. But I have seen the way you two look at each other many times. And it all started when she did not have access to her magic. So I am positive that this is not some kind of trick or spell. I am convinced that you two share true love and I want you to get your happy ending. I didn’t bet on you for nothing you know.” Grumpy then patted on the bag full of cash and grinned. 

Really, Emma was beginning to think this was all a strange dream or something. She even pinched her arm, but to no avail, she was very much awake. 

She ran a hand through her blonde locks and then looked back at Grumpy and all the dwarfs that were now staring at her.

“Thanks, I guess?” 

She came here to scold Grumpy, to arrest him and confiscate his winnings from the bet, perhaps even knock him of off his feet as she expected him to be the ugly kind of drunk, something that would satisfy her very much considering that she was pissed at the guy. But now? His drunken words had touched her, unexpectedly, and she didn’t know what to do.

David cleared his throat and stepped forward, “I’m happy to see how you all respond to the news of Emma and Regina being a couple. You are great friends, and I want you to know that Snow and I are supportive of this development as well.” This earned him a cheer from the crowd. He waited for a moment and when they had quieted down he continued, “However, Grumpy is going to leave the party and sober up in the safe confinement of the town jail.”

“PARTY POOPER!”, Grumpy yelled….

…

As Grumpy lay down on the jail bed fast asleep and snoring so loud you would think someone was cutting down a complete forrest with a chainsaw, Emma and David laughed.

“See baby girl, everything will work out just fine, there is nothing to fear.”

“Maybe you are right. This was not how I thought this was going to go at all. People can surprise you after all I guess.”

“Yes they can. What do you want to do with the cash in Grumpy’s bag I’ve got here?”

“I was going to confiscate it and not just arrest him for being drunk in public but also for illegal gambling. But maybe I’ll give it back to him when he wakes up. I don’t know for sure yet.”

“Okay, I’ll just put it in the safe then until you have made up your mind.”

When David returned from putting away the bag full of money he said, “We should both head home and pick up our families so we can meet at the park for the snowball fight.”

They both put their jackets, scarves and gloves on and walked through the hallway in the direction of the exit of the station.

“Yeah, I think Regina will be back by now too, so I’ll go and get Henry and her and then we’ll meet you at the park benches.”

“Great, see you soon”, David said as he held open the door so Emma could walk outside and then he followed and locked up the building before they parted ways. 

===================================================================

Emma had been right. Regina was already home with Henry when she arrived there and now the tree of them just entered the park and saw Snow and David waiting for them at the same park bench where they had put down their groceries when they had their first snowball fight there.

On their way to the park they hadn’t seen any other people. Most of them would probably prefer to stay inside as it was still freezing outside. Emma was rather grateful for this, she didn’t know if she could handle much more reactions to their situation. She still felt overwhelmed as she thought back to what happened at the Rabbit Hole. 

She had told Regina and Henry all about it on the way to the park. Henry had laughed, he was happy that an important part of towns inhabitants had reacted the way they did. At least their friends seemed to be happy for his moms, it was a good start.

Regina hadn’t really said anything yet. She just took Emma’s hand as they walked side by side and gave it a soft squeeze as a reminder that she had told Emma that it was going to be fine and everything would work out. However, she couldn’t deny to herself that she was surprised to hear that Grumpy of all people, or dwarfs, was the one who had believed in their connection.

“I am proud of you, dear.”

“Why is that?”

“I am proud that you didn’t arrest Leroy for illegal gambling and just decided to keep him safe in jail so he can sober up. That you didn’t in your own way retaliate against him for the stupid bet.”

“Thanks babe, Emma replied as she rubbed small circles on the back of Regina’s hand with her thumb. 

“Hey grandma, grandpa, we’re here”, Henry yelled as he ran towards his grandparents.

“Hello Emma, Regina”, Snow said as the two women joined them. She smiled when she noticed they were holding hands, it was cute.

Henry explained the rules. This time they would just have one round and two teams. No hitting in the face was allowed or the use of magic. Because they had 5 players one team would have only two players. In this case that would be Team Mills, consisting of Henry and Regina. They had to battle against Team Charmings, how original. 

Regina disliked the fact that she wasn’t teamed up with Emma, but she did have her son on her team and he was a good player. At least she didn’t get stuck with Snow, the woman had good aim, like she did with a bow and arrow, but she really didn’t feel like joining forces together with her. Now she even got the chance to fling a snowball at the pixie haired woman and win against Snow White.

“I’ll give the start signal in three minutes. Let’s go!”, Henry said and then he pulled his mom along with him in the direction of the trees on the right. As they got further and they couldn’t see anything but trees surrounding them, Henry blew on the acorn cap. The game has begun.

Henry pulled his mom with him behind a fairly large bush and crouched down.  
“So mom, any ideas as to how we should defeat Team Charming?”

“I was thinking that, because we only have two members in our team, it might be best to split up. If they find us together then we would be finished with soon. What do you think?”

“I think you are right, I’ll go that way Henry said as he pointed in one direction and you’ll go that way. Regina recognized the way she was going as the path that would lead her to the clearing. She nodded in agreement and whispered, “Remember to stay low, Henry.”

“I will mom, don’t worry.”

8 minutes later…

As Regina slowly and carefully made her way in the direction of the clearing, she thought she heard something behind her. She quickly grabbed a hand full of snow, formed a ball and turned on her heel, ready to throw when she saw it was just a robin redbreast that had made the noise behind her. She lower het arms and held out her hand to the bird as she ‘magicked’ some birdseed in her hand for the small animal. Undoubtedly it must have been hard for the creature to find food during the blizzard and with all this snow. The bird appeared to be very hungry as it quickly jumped into Regina’s hand and gulped down the food in what had to be record time. It kind of reminded her of Henry and Emma’s appetite and soon a smile splayed on her face.

When the bird was done eating it flew away only to land on a branch of a tree nearby. Regina ‘magicked’ a string of birdseeds and magically tied it up at the branch.

She softly whispered, “So you and your family have something for later”. Then she turned around and continued her way.

…

Not much later Regina heard something again, and this time it was the unmistakeable sound of snow boots crushing down the snow beneath them. Someone was close, better said at least two someone’s were close, she could hear two people talking. She quickly hid behind a tree and listened.

“We need to change our plan honey; your father has been hit by Henry. That means we are the only ones left. It also means that we have a better chance of winning if we split up like Regina and Henry did.”

“How do you know all of this, mom? Emma asked as she stopped walking and looked puzzled at her mother.

“A little robin redbreast told me that David sent him with the message that he has been hit by Henry and that there was no sign of Regina anywhere and that he is returning to the bench. If Regina is not with Henry, then they must have split up.”

“Ah”, Emma said while still looking at her mother incredulously.

Meanwhile behind the tree Regina was having a fit and muttered at herself, “That’s how you repay me, you little traitorous bird. Now they know our strategy and they are stealing it themselves. Using animals to communicate with each other…I consider it cheating.

“Isn’t that cheating, mom?”

“Ah finally, someone agrees with me”.

“Maybe, but it wasn’t disallowed according to the rules of the game.”

“Okay whatever, I’ll let it go this time but from now on, no more talking to the birds, agreed?”

“All right, I swear I won’t communicate with another bird.”

“Good, now...you go that way and I go this way.”

Emma had chosen to head to the clearing meaning that she was now walking in the direction where Regina was hiding. Regina froze, she couldn’t go anywhere without being seen or heard by Emma. The only thing she could do was hope Emma wouldn’t walk directly past the tree were she was standing…. thankfully Emma didn’t. Regina felt relieved, now her hunt could begin.

She gave Emma a little head start and then followed suit. Emma was no were to be seen at the edge of the clearing so Regina walked there herself. Then she spotted Emma. Her girlfriend was standing right on the sport were they had landed together in the snow, and almost shared their first kiss.

Regina smirked, maybe it’s time to finish what they had started there. She could go for it, no one was around. She closed her eyes and took a breath, then she focused on Emma and purple smoke engulfed her, then she disappeared.

Suddenly Emma fell onto the ground. Something had hit her, correction…someone had hit her. She opened her eyes and saw a very smug looking Regina hovering over her. Then she realized what just happened. Regina was now straddling her like she had done to her just a few days ago. It made her smile, just before she got knocked onto the ground she was reminiscing about that moment. About how they had almost shared a kiss there.

“You’re cheating babe, no magic allowed remember?”

“O, I remember, but I am currently playing a whole other game. One you started, but we never got the chance to finish.” Regina then leaned over and let her lips brush Emma’s ear as she whispered, “And I do intent to finish it”. 

Emma’s breath hitched as she heard Regina say those words in a seductive voice. The effect this woman had on her was amazing. Her body was tingling and she craved to feel Regina’s red coloured lips on her own. And the best thing was that this time there would be nothing holding her back, not her mother, not her fear of screwing up a friendship…absolutely nothing.

Regina lifted her head and then their eyes met. Eyes that were filled with desire, just like last time. 

But this time, this time she leaned in and captured the sweet, soft lips of Emma with her own. She pressed her body down so she could feel Emma’s breasts pressing against her body and the heat emanating from the blonde. She felt Emma’s hands grabbing a hold of her ass and squeezing tightly. Their movements elicited a moan from Regina’s mouth that parted her lips. Emma quickly made use of the space between them, deepening the kiss in an instant. They continued kissing until they were in need of air.

When they broke apart Emma said, “I don’t think you want to finish anything babe, you want to start something else”, and added a wink to that.

Regina licked her lips, “It’s a promise for tonight, dear.”

“Now, get your hands off of my behind so I can get up and we can go our separate ways and then continue the other game.”

Emma reluctantly released Regina from her hold. The reluctance didn’t go unnoticed and as Regina helped Emma get up on her feet she pulled extra hard on Emma’s arm so she would crash into her and then immediately gave her a last passionate kiss, before saying goodbye. 

As Regina watched Emma head for the trees and disappear out of sight she lifted her hand and brought her fingers to her lips. They felt numb and sensitive at the same time, it was a special feeling. Emma was an amazing kisser…

Then she heard a scream, “Mom, watch out!”. It was Henry, he tried to warn his mother as he saw his grandma getting close to her from behind, snowball in her hand, arm lifted, completely ready to make the kill. 

It turned out to be a big mistake to yell at his mother….

Regina turned around to see who or what was coming for her only to stand face to face with Snow White who was ready to attack, and did. However, as Snow flung her arm back to add force to her throw she slipped and lost her balance. The snowball released from her hand and hit Regina. It hit Regina hard….it hit her…. straight in the face.

Snow gasped in shock. She didn’t mean to hit Regina in the face, her aim was off because she lost her balance. She couldn’t help but fear the consequences.

It hurt, it hurt and it was sticking to her face. “God f-ing dammit, first she cheats with her whole crazy talking to birds nonsense and now she hits me RIGHT IN THE FACE!!” Regina brought her hands to her face and whisper the cold white substance off of it. She was fuming, her face was red from anger and the impact of the snow. If looks could kill, Snow White would be lying on the floor.

Regina could she the shock and fear in Snows eyes. She guessed that if she had a mirror in front of her even she would be scared of herself. She would have her revenge and she already knew how she was going to take it.

She made a big gesture with her arms and conjured up a canon. The very canon she had once wanted to hit Emma with.

Both Emma and Henry saw everything happening from the edge. Emma had heard Henry’s warning to Regina and she had turned around and ran back to where she had left her girlfriend. And now she saw the woman she loved looking very angry at her mother and threatening her with a canon.

Emma ran, she ran as fast as she could. She wanted to stop Regina from hitting her mother, even if she deserved it for breaking all the rules she could break.

But she was too late, too late to stop Regina from ‘pulling’ the magical trigger. Only it wasn’t Snow who got the full load, it was herself. She was able to stand between her mother and the canon, but not able to talk to Regina in time. And now she got the full load. 

Regina’s eyes widened as she saw Emma run right in the path of the cannon fire, but the first snowball were already fired. There was no time to stop them. She saw Emma getting hit and as quickly as she could she made the canon stop firing and disappear. Emma had been knocked onto the ground and didn’t move.

Snow was the first one to move and she knelt down next to her daughter to check if she was okay. “Emma, honey, are you okay?”

Emma didn’t move.

Regina’s heart was beating fast in her chest. There couldn’t be anything wrong with Emma, could there? It was just a snow canon and not designed to actually hurt someone with it. She didn’t even mean to hurt Snow, she just really wanted to scare the woman and have a little pay back.

She finally stepped forward and knelt down on the other side of Emma.

“Emma, dear, are you okay?”

For a couple of seconds nothing happened, nothing moved, but then Emma opened her eyes and locked them with Regina’s. There was no anger in Emma’s eyes, it looked more like a glimmer of mischief. The sight made Regina quirk an eyebrow and a questioning look appeared on her face. Emma then smiled and pulled one of her arms out from under her body, in the hand she held a snowball. She stretched out her hand and pushed the white orb straight into her mothers’ face.

Regina looked at Emma and Emma looked back with a huge smile on her face, then they heard their son burst out into laugher and they quickly joined him. Their bodies were shaking from laughing.

Meanwhile Snow was now the one who was wiping the snow off of her face. She was annoyed at her daughters move, but wasn’t mad. Even her annoyance disappeared soon when she saw Emma, Henry and Regina laughing so hard they all had tears rolling down their faces. It was too much to ask to join them at the moment but none the less she managed to smile at the scene. She was looking at a very happy family, her family and that made her heart swell.

===================================================================

When the four of them reached the park bench they saw David waiting there for them. Henry ran up to his grandfather and told him everything that had happened. 

After he finished telling the story he turned to his grandmother and asked, “Grandma, can I sleep over tonight? You could take me to school tomorrow, since that is starting again.”

Snow looked at Emma and Regina, they both nodded briefly that if she didn’t mind having Henry stay over that she could say yes. 

“Okay Henry, you come with us for the evening and night. I’ll drop you off at home tomorrow after school.”

“Yes!, Thanks grandma.”

“Is that okay with you two?”

“Sure mom, you can drop Henry off after school. I’ll be home since it’s still my vacation.”

“Great. Well then, we should be going. It’s time to pick up little Neal. Bye girls.”

When they said their goodbye’s Emma and Regina headed home. It would be the first time they would be alone in the house, that is without Henry being there.

Emma reached for Regina’s hand and intertwined them as they kept walking.

“I’m glad I got to kiss you under the starlight today, Emma said.”

Regina turned her head only to see Emma looking up at the clear blue sky. The grey clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining. 

“It’s still daytime dear, what do you mean you got to kiss me under the starlight?”

Regina’s comment made Emma chuckle and she lowered her head and turned it so she was facing Regina who looked confused.

“You’re forgetting the sun, my darling. It’s the brightest star of them all…just like you”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: *Swoon* I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter might be rated M, if you want and if I can do it :)


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks so much for the review, I really appreciate that. This chapter starts with fluff and somewhere along the road things slowly heat up, so the rating is M/E. Enjoy!

Chapter 23

Regina couldn’t stop smiling as she looked back on the day that was almost over now. She had enjoyed the time she and her family spent in the park. Then her thoughts reminded her of heading back home. They had decided to take the long road towards the mansion. They had strolled hand in hand from the park, to the ocean shore where the sand of the beach was hidden beneath the snow. When they had returned home it was already time to make dinner. They shared a nice meal together and Emma had surprised her by setting the dining table in a more romantic setting, with dimmed lights in the room, lighted candles and a small vase with deep red roses in it. She hadn’t inquired as to where Emma got them, she simply enjoyed all the small things the blonde had done for them while she had been busy in the kitchen. She felt so happy as she heard the lovely words Emma had spoken to her today echoing in het mind “I will love you until the day I die”.

She had said it back and she meant every word of it, with ever fiber of her being. To her it felt like a huge accomplishment. To be able to say “I love you”, to be able to say or imply “forever”, to be able to open up, not be afraid, letting go, being herself, finding herself and even starting to love herself again. Emma might have said she was the brightest star of all, that she was like the sun, but to Regina, Emma was the light in the dark she had been looking for all her life. There was no brighter star than Emma. She mused to herself, “Maybe we are each others lights in the shadows, shining for eternity, so when we get lost, we can always find our way back home”. 

She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom and saw the light but noticeable blush coloring her cheeks, adding a natural warmth to her face. She shook her head and laughed inside. How thinking of Emma could make her feel still managed to amaze her. It wasn’t weird, everything was still so new after all. She was just surprised she could feel like a lovestruck teenager after all this time and after everything that had happened. 

Suddenly her thoughts drifted to tomorrow…she had to go to work, Emma would be alone in the house until Snow brought Henry home from school. She frowned, what she really wanted was not having to get up out of bed early tomorrow. She wished she could just sleep in, with Emma in her arms and enjoy the blonde’s company. Just the two of them, no one else.

A soft knock on the bathroom door got her attention, it could only be Emma. The frown on her face disappeared and she answered, “You can come in, dear.”

The door opened with a soft click and Emma stepped inside, “I was just wondering if you’ll be down soon for the movie?”

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about today and that’s why I might have lost track of how long I’ve been upstairs. But I’m ready, I’ll walk with you.”

Emma nodded and smiled as she was already imagining watching a movie with Regina and how she would love to cuddle up against her girlfriend on the couch.

When Regina was about to walk past her, Emma, who stood in the door frame, moved out of the way so she could follow behind her girlfriend. When she took a step backwards her back hit the door frame just when Regina passed her and she couldn’t help but let out a painful hiss. 

This sound she made didn’t go unnoticed by Regina, who stop dead in her tracks and turned to face Emma.

“Emma, are you hurt?”

Emma quickly composed herself and shook her head vehemently, “No everything is fine.”

Finding Emma’s voice not convincing at all, Regina stepped forward and cupped Emma’s cheek. “I know you’re lying. You didn’t even hit the doorframe hard, you just touched the edge with your back. Please tell me what is wrong.”

The pleading look in Regina’s eyes and the knowledge that lying would apparently be pointless, Emma took a breath and said “Promise me that you won’t get mad if I tell you what is wrong?” 

The question made Regina a little nervous but she really wanted to know what was wrong so she replied, “Okay, I won’t, I promise.”

Emma’s eyes left Regina’s and were now directed at the floor, she started “When you hit me with the snow cannon I fell into the snow with my back, unfortunately underneath the snow there was a tree root that I fell onto and now my back hurts a little in the middle.”  
After this confession Emma looked back up and saw the hurt and anger in Regina’s eyes. It was the exact thing she had wanted to avoid and therefore kept her small injury a secret. In fact, she hadn’t noticed the pain until they were at the beach.

“Please, Regina…you promised you wouldn’t be mad if I told you. I know you, I know you are probably angry at yourself now because you think it’s your fault I am hurt. But it’s really nothing and it was just an accident. You didn’t try to hurt me, we were just having fun.” 

“But it is my fault, Emma. And you are right, I am angry at myself. How can I not be? I hurt the woman I love all because of my own childish behaviour. You should have told me that I hurt you, Emma.”

“Remember the promise you just made me? You promised not to be mad.”

“I thought you meant not to be mad at you, and I am not.”

“I meant not to be mad at yourself, I know you, I left that specific part out on purpose so you would promise me. I really want you to try and stop being mad at yourself, because I am not either and it is completely unnecessary. Like I said it was just an accident. Also, you were not being childish in the park, you were just having fun and you had every right to teach my mom a lesson, she was cheating. You know, it’s one of the things I love about you. That you can be so composed and regal but also playful and sassy if you want to.”

Once more Regina was touched by Emma’s words and she couldn’t deny the blonde who was so nice to her, her request. “You’re right, I promised not to be mad so I won’t be. I do however, want you to promise me not to hide it from me when you are hurt in the future.”

“I promise, babe.” Emma then leaned in and gave Regina a peck on the lips.

When Emma pulled back, Regina asked, “May I take a look at your back?”

“Sure”, Emma turned around and then took off her pyjama top, they had both changed into their pajama’s for the movie night so they would be comfortable. 

As Emma removed the piece of clothing Regina saw a nasty bruise had formed on the centre of Emma’s back. She carefully reached out her hand and let her fingers ghost a path over the bruise. With a timid voice she asked, “Does it hurt badly?”

“Only if there is pressure on that spot. When there’s not I can still feel it’s there, but it doesn’t hurt. My muscles feel a little tense too.”

“Perhaps you should take a bath, some heat might help your muscles relax.”

Emma smirked as an idea formed in her head. She turned around and looked at Regina, who was a bit surprised at the sudden move.

She leaned forward to close the small distance between them and when her lips brushed against Regina’s ear she whispered, “Only if you’ll join me.”

Regina could feel she was starting to blush and she knew Emma saw it happening because the grin on her girlfriend’s face was getting wider. She bit her bottom lip as she considered the offer of joining Emma in bath. It wasn’t something she had ever done before…but there’s a first time for everything, right?

“Yes, I’ll join you.” 

===================================================================

The bathroom smelled like a garden of roses with a hint of honey, and almond blossom. Emma picked out the bath foam they would use and she was not unhappy with her choice, it smelled wonderful. She was lying in the tub completely emerged in the water that reached up to her chest. 

Regina had run downstairs to turn off the TV they had turned on for the planned movie night and put away the snacks and drinks that were already placed on the coffee table. 

When Regina returned upstairs she saw Emma was already lying in the filled bathtub with her eyes closed. After she undressed herself Regina stepped in and slowly lowered her body into the warm water on the opposite side of Emma.

For about five minutes they both just enjoyed the warmth of the water in a comfortable silence.

Regina who, like Emma, had her eyes closed as she lay there in the water opened them and secretly glanced at Emma. She took in the sight of the blonde’s hair tied up in a messy bun on top of her head and thought it was adorable, just like the serene look on her face. She let her eyes travel downwards to the part of Emma’s chest that wasn’t covered by the water and foam. The heaving of Emma’s chest from her breathing was hypnotizing and Regina couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight of Emma’s cleavage reaching the surface whenever she breathed in. 

She didn’t notice that Emma had opened her eyes and saw Regina was looking at her.

“You like what you see?”

Deciding to be bold Regina replied with a smirk, “Yes, but I’m not seeing nearly enough.”

At that comment Emma sat up straight and thus revealed her breasts to Regina.   
“Better now?”

Regina didn’t answer the question with words. She sat up straight herself and lifted up a hand and made a come-hither motion with her finger. Emma’s eyes widened at that sexy image and slowly made her way over to her girlfriend. She wanted to kiss Regina and feel those marvelous breasts in her hands. However, it seemed Regina had other plans. When she was in-between Regina’s legs and ready to let their lips connect, Regina placed a hand on het chest.

Softly Regina said, “ Turn around”. 

Emma looked confused at Regina, so the brunette elaborated, “I would like to try something and for that I need access to your back, turn around and go sit in-between my legs so your back is facing me.”

Emma didn’t ask questions and just did as Regina asked. She settled herself between Regina’s legs. Soon she could feel a hand on her shoulder and Regina’s breath against her ear. A shiver went up her spine as a result of the contact.

“Do you trust me?”

Not taking a second to respond Emma answered, “With my life”.

Regina smiled, “This is going to feel warm, but if I do it right, your pain and bruise will disappear. Are you ready?”

Emma nodded and took a breath, getting herself ready for whatever Regina was about to do.

Regina gently placed a hand on Emma’s sore spot, the warmth of the flesh passed beneath her own skin. She closed her eyes and focused herself, breathing in and out, concentrating on her love for the blonde and allowing her light magic to reach the surface and use it to heal Emma’s injury. 

She could feel it was working, a warm and pleasant feeling crept through her body, flowing from her heart to her shoulder, from her shoulder coursing through her left arm, her hand, her fingers. The energy leaving her hand and touching Emma’s skin. She opened her eyes and saw the bruise on Emma’s back was already getting smaller.

The touch of Regina’s hand on her back was soft and warm. She could feel a slight ache when the hand came to rest on her bruise, but at the same time the contact felt pleasant and comforting. When she breathed out an unexpected energy started to flow through her body. The relieve it brought her was amazing. Regina was healing her with her magic and it felt great. She could feel her pain lessen and her muscles relaxing even more. This was so much better than just the warmth of the water she had been lying in just a moment ago. Regina’s energy started to penetrate her body more deeply now. Instead of feeling just a touch on the surface of her skin and directly underneath where Regina’s hand was placed she could feel waves of energy reaching her inside, slowly flowing downwards, the healing touch turning into a touch of pleasure, a touch that made her insides stir and her breath quicken. It made her eyes widen as she realized what was happening now. The energy kept on flowing, it was tantalizing, sensual and it reached all the way to her throbbing centre. It was as if an invisible finger was tracing circles around her bundle of nerves. As the feeling hit her in that sensitive spot she let out an audible gasp, “Re-..Regina…..what are you doing?”

Regina hadn’t noticed the bruise was completely gone now. When she saw her magic was working she had closed her eyes again, so she could completely focus on Emma. Somewhere along the line in the process of healing Emma, her thoughts drifted to the moment when she kissed Emma so passionately in the snow, and promising her she would finish what she had started tonight. If she could heal Emma, making love to her would be a possibility again. When she heard Emma gasp and asking her what she was doing she snapped out of her train of thoughts. She quickly pulled her hand away from Emma, fearing that she might have unintentionally hurt her girlfriend for a second time today. 

She looked at the hand she pulled back and then to the place where the bruise used to be. Everything looked fine as far as she could tell, but in her fear she already started to apologize, “I….I’m sorry Emma, if I hurt you, I didn’t mean to.”

Surprised at the apology and slightly regretting that she had spoken up because it lead to Regina pulling her hand back , Emma allowed herself to lean back carefully, pressing her back against Regina’s front, making Regina follow her movement until the brunette herself rested with her back against the tub like she had a few minutes ago when they were just relaxing in the water on opposite sides. When they lay comfortable against each other, Emma said, “Put your arms around me.” 

Regina didn’t know what exactly had happened yet, but if Emma wanted her to hold her and lie with her in such an intimate position, it couldn’t be bad. So she raised her arms and brought them around Emma’s waist pulling the blonde even closer to her, if possible. 

Emma placed her hands on top of Regina’s and started to slowly caress them.

“You didn’t hurt me babe, quite the opposite actually.”

“Then what happened?”

Emma chuckled, it was brilliant that Regina didn’t have a clue as to what her magic had done to her body after the healing was finished. Hearing the soft chuckle escape from Emma’s mouth only added to Regina’s confusion. Deciding to no longer keep Regina in the dark, but first teasing her a little, Emma responded with a question, “Magic is emotion, right?”

With hesitation in her voice, Regina replied, “Yes, the use of magic is tied to the emotions of the user. The strength of spells and what they do exactly depend heavily on the feelings of the caster.”

Emma smirked, “And what exactly was it that you were just feeling or thinking about?”

Regina furrowed her brows, “Well, I was thinking about healing you and the love I have for you so I would be able to use my light magic.”

Emma hummed to herself as she was tracing circles with her index finger on the back of Regina’s hand, “That was it? Nothing else on your mind, babe?”

Suddenly Regina caught on to the feelings Emma had to be referring to. She had been thinking of something else entirely at one point. She had been thinking about making love to Emma. Immediately a blush crept up her neck, it couldn’t be possible that those feelings had found their way into her magic, could it?

Emma took the silence and the tension she felt in Regina’s body as a sign that she must have figured out what happened.

“I have to say, I like the way you think. Also, I want to thank you for healing me, makes making love to you a whole lot easier. I haven’t forgotten the promise you made me in the woods, much like you haven’t either. I know that for sure, because I could feel it”.

Regina leaned her head forward and placed a kiss on Emma’s neck. “No, I haven’t forgotten that and I’m glad the healing session was to your liking, Em-mah.” The more Regina thought about what just happened, the funnier the idea became and it helped that Emma obviously didn’t mind that it had happened. 

For a few more minutes they just lay there together, holding each other, feeling their bodies fitting perfectly together. They never wanted to let each other go. Regina was the one to break the silence.

“I do wish I didn’t have to go to work in the morning.”

“Then why don’t you just give yourself the rest of the week off? I mean I would love to spend as much time with you as I can in my vacation.

“I’ve already had two days off and….”

Emma interrupted, “And what? It’s not like anything has happened in those few days that deserve your attention. It’s not like there are any files left on your desk either, because you finished all the work you had left on your desk on Sunday. I admire your sense of responsibility and work ethic, but even the mayor is entitled to a few days off or a vacation. I’ve never seen you take a day off before, please, just give yourself a break for once.”

“Maybe you are right, there just never was a reason to take a day off other than when Henry was little, but I guess I do have a reason now, Regina said as she let the hand Emma didn’t have a hold on slowly work its way up the blonde’s arm, leaving behind the same tantalizing feeling she had given Emma only moments earlier, but this time being fully aware of it. Let’s get out of the tub dear and take this to the bedroom, the water is starting to get cold.”

===================================================================

As soon as Emma had followed Regina into the bedroom, after they had dried themselves off first, she was being pushed up against the door she just closed behind her.

She met Regina’s gaze and could feel Regina grabbing her wrists and pinned them to the door above her head. Regina was taking the lead tonight, that was for sure.  
The brunette in front of her just smirked and then pressed her own body against Emma and started placing kisses on Emma’s jawline. With her thigh she spread Emma’s legs and firmly pressed it up against Emma’s centre, which elicited a most divine moan to fall from the blonde’s lips. She pulled back her head and liked what she saw. The blonde’s pupils had dilated and a small smile appeared on her face. This encouraged Regina to continue so she launched forward and captured Emma’s lips with her own and pressed them together with force. She then slowly started to nip on the lips of her girlfriend and gently bit the bottom one until she could taste the metallic flavour of blood. 

She then let go of Emma’s bottom lip to catch her breath and looked up in Emma’s eyes. When she saw the surprise and enjoyment on her girlfriends face she leaned in again. This time more gentle, she placed a soft kiss on those delicious lips and then parted her own lips a little more so she could let her tongue slide over the blonde’s lips and ask for entrance. 

As Emma parted her lips to allow Regina to deepen the kiss she felt her hands being released and Regina’s hands coming to rest on her shoulder and one hand on her nape to pull her in even closer. Their tongues were now caressing each other, tastings each other and Regina pressed her thigh even harder between Emma’s legs. The moan Emma made was caught by Regina’s lips. Then soft, warm fingers made their way down in a slow pace, from her shoulder and nape to her breasts. 

Regina enjoyed the feeling of Emma’s soft, firm breasts in her hands and let her fingers ghost over the swell and caught the soft nipples with her fingers. She rolled them between her fingers and soon she could feel them becoming the stiff peaks she wanted to feel in her mouth. 

Still kissing passionately Emma wanted more. She started to move her hips a little, moaning as she revelled in the friction that she got from grinding against Regina’s firm thigh that was still pressed between her legs.

The move made Regina smirk and she quickly removed her thigh between Emma’s legs when she felt Emma was getting wet. 

The lose of friction between her legs frustrated Emma and she let one of her own hands travel down to her centre. Regina caught the movement and soon released Emma’s lips.

“I don’t think so, princess”, and then swatted away the hand between Emma’s legs. Tonight, the only one who is going to touch you there will be me. Feel free to let your hands roam around my body though.”

Emma groaned, “Fine”. She then settled her hands on Regina’s hips and forcefully pushed her backwards until Regina’s legs hit the bed. But Regina was not about to give up the lead and hand it over to Emma without a fight. As soon as her legs touched the bed she spun them around and pushed Emma against the chest, making her lose her balance and fall onto the bed on her back.

Regina crawled over her girlfriends body and lowered herself down so their bodies were pressed flush against each other. The feel of Emma’s hot flesh and hardened nipples was arousing. Regina started to kiss Emma on the lips again and slowly worked her way to Emma’s jawline. She then pressed herself up and straddled the gorgeous blonde beneath her. Seeing the sight of Emma whose eyes were dark with lust only increased her arousal and she wanted, no she needed, some friction between her own legs. With her hips she started grinding against Emma. 

Seeing Regina sitting on top of her and moving her hips for stimulation between her legs was amazing. With the eye contact they had everything felt even more intense. Emma wanted to feel Regina’s breasts, so she reached up and cupped them in her hands. She let the already hardened nipples, that were a sign of how aroused Regina was, roll between her thumb and index finger while adding pressure and sometimes pulling on them a little. As she continued those ministrations Regina was now leaving a trail of wetness behind on her pubic area and letting out soft whimpers of pleasure.

Suddenly Regina leaned forward and broke their eye contact, while still pressing her hips firmly into Emma and keeping her pace as she moved her hips. She placed her hands beside Emma’s head and gasped as she felt her girlfriends hot mouth latching onto her nipple and one hand continuing to play with the other. The stimulation was getting overwhelming and if she kept this up she would be cumming soon. She decided that she would, she needed her release. She sped up her movements, her hips rocking faster, the throbbing between her legs getting even worse. Her centre getting drenched and wetting Emma’s skin even more. Squelching sounds and Regina’s moans filled the air.

Meanwhile Emma loved the way Regina was using her body to get herself over the edge. It was one of the hottest things she had ever seen and it made her feel her own desire, to be fucked thoroughly, increase and the wetness between her legs pool. Emma teased Regina’s nipple with her mouth, sucking on it, circling it with her tongue. She felt Regina’s wetness on her skin and her breathing getting more and more uneven, and her moans getting louder. Regina couldn’t be far from the edge now. In an attempt to help her girlfriend get over it Emma squeezed one nipple harder with her finger and flicked the other with her tongue. Regina let out a cry as she finally orgasmed and Emma bit her nipple softly and then releasing her hold on the brunette.

Regina let her orgasm run its course and take her over. The warm and tingling feeling spreading through her body like electricity. She slowed down her movements against Emma and changed her position at little so she was able to kiss Emma deeply. Then her lips traveled down to Emma’s neck, she was going to leave a mark there like Emma had done to her the night before. She found Emma’s pulse point and sucked long and hard on the flesh until she was sure that a mark would be visible there pretty soon, it already was nice and red. She then moved along, kissing her way down to Emma’s breasts. She took a hard nipple in her mouth and let her tongue slide over it multiple times before flicking it with the tip of her tongue. 

Emma enjoyed how Regina was teasing her and touching her everywhere except for the placed she wanted it most. As if Regina could read her mind she gasped when she felt a hand traveling downwards over her stomach, then her abdomen and ultimately reaching her centre. 

Regina let a finger slide between Emma’s folds and felt the blonde was soaked. She let her finger circle Emma’s clit and then pulled it back. She lifted the hand up and held it between their faces as she admired her finger that was glistening with Emma’s arousal. She then placed the finger against the corner of Emma’s bottom lip and traced a path with it over the lip, making sure she covered it with the wetness from Emma’s centre. When she was done she seductively licked her finger completely clean and then crashed her lips onto Emma’s.

The feeling of Regina’s finger between her folds, teasing her clit and then the hotness and boldness of what Regina did with her finger left Emma wanting for more. She wanted to feel Regina inside her. She wanted to feel Regina’s luscious lips and talented tongue on her clit. And she didn’t feel like waiting any longer.

After they broke their kiss for much needed air she asked with a husky voice, “Regina, please fuck me.”

The wonderful sound of Emma pleading for her to fuck her made Regina look up, from the lips she was admiring, to connect with Emma’s eyes. What she saw was heavenly lust and desire. Regina was more then happy to finally give Emma what she wanted, what she needed, she had teased the blonde long enough. She made her way down and settled her head between Emma’s legs as she spread them open. 

Regina first placed some soft kisses on Emma’s inner thighs and breathed in the smell of Emma’s arousal. Emma’s folds were glistening from the arousal that had already found it’s way outside. She let one finger trace through those wet folds all the way from Emma’s opening to her clit, and then gently rubbed the bundle of nerves with Emma’s own wetness.

The motion, feeling Regina finally touching her throbbing centre and rubbing her clit, almost made Emma cum. It made her squirm. 

Regina stopped rubbing the bundle of nerves with her fingers and placed one wet finger at the entrance of Emma’s opening. She pushed it inside and felt hardly any resistance because Emma was already drenched. She quickly added a second finger. The feel of Emma’s ridged, soft, wet and warm inside was unlike anything she had ever felt before, it was the first time that she entered Emma with her fingers and she revelled in the feeling. There was enough resistance for her liking and while adding a little pressure downwards with her fingers, that elicited a gasp from Emma, she set a nice and steady pace, while Emma moved along with the rhythm she established. 

Regina could feel Emma’s walls starting to tighten around her fingers and she smirked as Emma moaned, “Oh fuck, Regina”. 

To send her lover over the edge she leaned in and let her teeth softly graze Emma’s clit before tracing a path through Emma’s wet folds from where she was working her opening, al the way up to that throbbing clit. A cry fell from Emma’s lips and Regina felt the pulsating walls of Emma tightening their hold on her fingers. Regina savoured the taste of Emma on her tongue. She let her tongue circle Emma’s clit and then took the bundle of nerves between her lips and started sucking on it. She didn’t stop fucking Emma with her fingers and while she still could she twister her wrist and curled her fingers upward. 

The move was unexpected and Regina hit a particular sensitive spot of Emma when she curled up her fingers. Emma could feel she was nearing the edge quickly and tangled one hand in Regina’s hair and pushed the brunette’s face even closer to her centre. As Regina kept sucking on her clit and keeping up the pace inside her, her muscles started tensing through her whole body, her breath was getting uneven, she felt like she was going to burst. She couldn’t hold out any longer, she screamed so loud that she tried to muffle the sound with her free hand.

Regina could feel Emma’s walls clenching around her fingers, hips bucking and muscles tensing and wetness drenching her hand. She left her fingers inside, waiting and watching as Emma rode out her orgasm and came down from her high. She looked up and saw Emma’s chest heaving fast as she was trying to steady her breathing. Emma rode out her orgasm and she felt the muscles in her body relax again.

Regina wiped Emma’s cum on her hand off on the bedsheets and crawled up so she could lay herself down next to Emma. She thought it was good time to kiss for a few minutes and then go to sleep.

However, Emma had other plans. As soon as she was down from her high she moved to straddle Regina and kisses her lips, the taste of her own cum on them making her arousal rise again, making her feel like she was insatiable.

When she released Regina’s lips she locked her eyes with her lover and smirked when she saw Regina was surprised by her move. She leaned forward a little and seductively said, “Ready for another round my love?”

Regina smiled, this was going to be a long night. Thank goodness she had decided to give herself a break at work and had the day off tomorrow. She would be way too tired to get up early as she was planning on making love to Emma all night long…

Regina answered, “Yes I am, dear”, and then pulled the blonde in by her nape and   
let their lips crash together once more…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you had fun reading this chapter. If you can spare the time please leave a review, they are always such a pleasure too read. 
> 
> Oh yeah, just to prepare you guys for it: The chapter I post this weekend will be the last update for a while (2 max. 3 weeks) because I have to study for my exams and do a little more writing on my thesis. Sorry! But have no fear, I’m not leaving this story unfinished, I’ll be back and you get a new chapter on Sunday :)


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

After a night full of sweet and passionate love making, Emma and Regina lay next to each other in bed, still fast asleep. Regina had her front molded against Emma’s back and her arm around Emma’s waist.

The sun was already shining through the small opening between Regina’s bedroom curtains and a ray of light cascaded over the former Queen’s face. The warmth of the light became noticeable on the soft skin it was caressing and slowly woke Regina up from her slumber. 

Her eyes fluttered open, but just as soon as she opened her eyes, she closed them again. The light of the sun was just too strong. She moved her head a little closer to Emma’s body so the sunlight wouldn’t shine into her eyes anymore. She breathed in and could smell the scent of sex still lingering in the air of their bedroom. It made her smile as the aroma took her back to the nightly activity she and Emma had been involved in. Every touch, sound, move and every look they had shared had been sensational. She chuckled softly and bit her bottom lip as she recalled that the first orgasm she gave Emma with the help of her fingers made her girlfriend scream so loud that she had put a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. “I guess we have a new scream queen.”

It seemed Emma was not awake yet and Regina wondered what time it is. As careful as she could she lifted her head up and peeked over Emma’s shoulder to see that it was almost 11 am on the alarm clock. Since she wasn’t tired anymore and she didn’t want to be their afternoon alone together to be so short since Henry would be home around 4 pm she decided to wake Emma up. 

With her lips she placed soft kisses on Emma’s slightly salty-tasting skin. She started at the shoulder blade and worked her way up to Emma’s shoulder and neck. With the hand she had under the covers and around the blonde’s waist, she gently started to caress the soft, firm and warm skin with her fingers. The touches had their effect, because the woman in her arms started to stir a bit. Regina let her hand travel upwards to Emma’s chest and let her hand slide over the swell of a breast all the while she never stopped kissing the blonde. 

Regina could hear a gasp followed by a content humming sound escape from Emma’s throat. And the hand she had placed on Emma’s breast was now covered with a hand of her girlfriend. Emma had awoken. 

The blonde lifted their hands up a little and led Regina’s hand down, from her chest to her abdomen and from there even further down until Regina’s hand touched a small patch of blonde curls. The move made Regina smirk and left her no doubt about what Emma was silently asking from her on this wonderful morning. She took initiative now and let her hand disappear between Emma’s legs, her fingers passing over the blonde’s folds, leading Emma to take in a deep breath. Regina let her fingers ghost a path over the outside of Emma’s folds before she parted them and let a finger slip in-between them. Slowly she started to rub the the bundle of nerves she felt was already a little engorged, Emma was clearly aroused. As Emma’s breathing became a little uneven and she started to squirm, Regina sped up her pace and started rubbing faster and with more pressure. It didn’t take long for Emma to go over the edge and cum. Regina let her finger rest for a moment on the blonde’s sensitive clit and then retracted her hand back.

Emma turned around so she was facing Regina now. She could feel her cheeks burning in the aftermath of her orgasm and smiled as she saw loving brown eyes locking with her green emerald ones. 

“Good morning, dear.”

“Good morning, babe.”

Emma leaning in for a kiss. Her lips brushing softly against Regina’s and then pressing harder. When she pulled back, Regina smirked and said, “So, I assume you approve of my methods to wake you up?”

Emma didn’t need to think about a response to that, “O yes, I most certainly approve. This was the best wake-up call I’ve had in my life.”

“Well, you’re very welcome my dear.”

“Thank you babe, would you like me to return the favour?” Emma said innocently.

Regina smiled and lifted a hand so she could brush away the long golden lock of hair that had just fallen in front of Emma’s face. She took the strand of hair between her fingers and brushed her finger tips against Emma’s glowing cheek as she moved to put the hair behind Emma’s ear. She gave Emma a quick peck on the lips and responded, “I would like that, but I also don’t want to stay in bed for much longer. In a couple of hours we won’t be alone anymore and I don’t want to spend those hours in bed.”

Emma nodded in understanding and wanted to get up out of bed so she could go for a quick shower and start their day. Regina reached out and grabbed a hold of Emma’s arm before the blonde could leave her, she wasn’t done talking yet. 

Deepening her voice she continued, “However, that doesn’t mean you can’t join me in the shower”, and added a wink to that.

Emma lifted a brow and then nodded again as the corner of her mouth curled up into a small smile.

“Then let’s go take a shower.” She crawled over Regina and as she touch the floor with her feet she quickly pulled the covers from the brunette’s body and gently pulled her up and led her with her to the bathroom…

===================================================================

After the shower, getting dressed and eating their breakfast which could also be considered lunch by the time they had gotten downstairs, Emma and Regina decided to make themselves useful and dig Emma’s Bug free from the snow that lay in the driveway.

As they put their scarves and gloves on and stepped outside they could feel the warm sun beams on their faces. The snow was slowly starting to melt and the roads had been cleared properly.

Emma breathed in as she stood on the porch of the mansion, feeling the cold that still lingered in the air burning her lungs. 

“It looks so warm and beautiful outside but it feels cold”, Emma said as she wrapped her arms around her body.

“That reminds me, I forget to tell you that you really should invest in a proper winter coat. That leather jacket of yours is just not made for this kind of weather. I wanted to scold you about wearing the dreadful thing the night you were throwing rocks against my window, but then…well you know what distracted me from doing that.”

“I sure do, it was the night I first told you that I love you.”

“The first night that I told her I love her was last Saturday. Maybe I could ask Regina to marry me this Saturday. When Henry comes home I have got to make sure that I can talk with him about this, I still haven’t made a plan as to how I’m going to handle this, but I still want to do it…”

Regina nodded and grabbed Emma’s hand and locked her eyes with the blonde, “Yes it was the first time we said I love you to each other and the first time we kissed.”

The smile she flashed Emma was breathtaking and made her weak in the knees. “I am so going to make her mine. I would be the luckiest woman in all the realms to be able to call Regina Mills my wife, forever.”

Emma squeezed Regina’s hand and smiled back to her true love and planted a gentle kiss on the brunette’s forehead. “Come on babe, let’s dig this car out of the snow. I hope it still starts when I turn the keys. It has never let me down, but with the cold and being stuck her for a few days I hope the battery has survived.”

“We’ll see.”

….

It was like music to her ears when Emma turned the ignition keys. The noise her cute yellow bug made let her know that once again it was strong and wouldn’t let her down. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes as she let the memories of everything she and this car had been through.

Regina watched her girlfriend with interest from the passengers seat. Emma looked happy that her car, this deathtrap, was still working. She didn’t understand why Emma insisted on driving in this old car. She wanted to understand though.

“Emma?”

Emma opened her eyes when she heard Regina calling her name.

“Yes?”

“I was wondering, because I would like to understand your love for this vehicle, what exactly is it that makes this car so special to you?”

Emma chuckled at hearing Regina calling her car a ‘vehicle’, it was definitely a step up from ‘the deathtrap’ and it gave her the feeling that Regina was genuinely interested in what this car meant to her.

“This car..”, Emma started while she lifted her hand to the steering wheel and started to run her hand over it…”This car and I, we have been through a lot together. It has never let me down. It brought me to all the places I wanted to be and got me out of the places that I needed to run from. It brought me here, to Storybooke, to my family, to you. She sighed, “It is also in this car that I first met Henry’s father.”

Regina swallowed and nodded, she looked down to the hand she had folded together in her lap, softly she responded “I see”.

“I miss Neal, I really hate that Henry is unable to get to know his father, especially since he is now a teenage boy.”

Regina had to ask, the words fell from her lips with a trembling and she turned to face Emma, “You still love him?”

“I do love him, not in the romantic sense of the word though. I love him as I love a friend. I love him because he gave me Henry, but it doesn’t matter. He’s dead.”

Regina reached for Emma’s hand and took it, “Well it does matter, he died because he tried to save you and to save his son. For that I will be forever grateful. I think I understand now why you love this car so much. 

Emma nodded and removed Regina’s glove from her hand and placed soft kisses on the cold fingertips.

“Thank you for asking and trying to understand why to me this car is important. It’s just so full of history and memories.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that, dear. I believe it is what people who love each other do. They try to understand their partner and take interest in the life they lived and are living and the things they love and hold dear.”

“I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again. Regina Mills, you are wonderful and I am so lucky that you love me and you are my girlfriend. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They both leaned in and cupped each others cheeks and kissed lovingly. After breaking apart they embraced each other in a hug.

“I feel like a teenager, sitting in a car in front of a house, kissing my girlfriend.”, Regina said when she pulled back from the hug.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Except, the house we are sitting in front of is our home, not the house of either of our parents.”

“Yes, our home.”…

===================================================================

After spending the afternoon clearing the driveway and Emma’s car from the snow the two women spent the rest of their time drinking hot chocolate to get warm and improving Regina’s Mario Kart skills on Henry’s game console. Regina was getting better by the minute and when she remembered every action that corresponded with the buttons on the game pad they even stopped playing against the computer but battled each other.

Emma had won the first 3 rounds, but Regina struck back by winning the next two.

“One more time and we are at a tie, miss Swan.”

“Don’t call me miss Swan.”

“O, stop pretending you don’t like it. Sure, it riles you up and that’s why I like calling you that, but you can’t help but love it at the same time.”

“Maybe…but stop doing it now, it’s distracting”

Regina rolled her eyes, “Everything I do or say to you seems to be distracting dear.”

Emma didn’t respond. She was to caught up in trying to stay focused on the game that was about to start. She wasn’t going to let Regina make it to a tie. Henry would laugh if he heard his mom was getting as good as or maybe even better at this game than her.

Regina was amused as she saw the concentrated look on Emma face. It was as if her eyes were trying to pierce through the TV screen. Another thing she loved was the way Emma’s tongue was sticking out a little between her lips. Her girlfriends focused face was so stupid, and yet so adorable.

She focused back on the screen…3….2….1…..GO!

===================================================================

When Henry unlocked the front door and stepped inside, followed by his grandmother who just wanted to say ‘hi’ to Emma and Regina before going home, both their jaws dropped to the floor as they walked into the living room. 

What in heavens name did they just walk into?

His mom….HIS MOM….was dancing on the coffee table with a controller in her hands, swinging her hips, arms up in the air and chanting “I WON, I BEAT THE QUEEN of MARIO KART, TAKE A LOOK AT THE NEW QUEEN, I RULE!”

Obviously it was a victory dance. Something he never ever expected to see his regal mother do….ever. But there it was, right in front of his eyes.

His other mother was just sitting there, despair written over her face as realization dawned on her that she had just lost to Regina. She lost… She should have never challenged Regina to go for one more round after their tie. How did this happen? She didn’t understand. And then there was Regina, who was dancing and celebrating her victory. It was equally shocking as amusing. Even though Emma felt beaten, she didn’t mind Regina celebrating her victory. The sight of this child like enthusiasm for winning a game was actually quite wonderful. Not everything in life had to be so serious, sometimes letting go was just so much better.

Henry and Snow tore their eyes away from the scene in front of them and looked at each other. They started laughing at the same time, it was so loud that it easily topped the sounds of the game replaying the last round on the TV screen and loud enough to top Regina’s chanting. 

Both women were startled by the sound of laughter. They looked in the direction of the foyer and saw Snow and Henry standing there, hands on their stomachs and tears of joy rolling down their cheeks. 

Emma didn’t mind that the two of them entered the house and busted them playing, though she was sure Henry was going to tease her about losing to his mom.

Regina however, felt absolutely embarrassed and her cheeks started burning. She tried to compose herself and stepped down from the table as gracefully as she could. She cleared her throat, “Emma would you be so kind and turn the console off, unless you wish to continue practicing with Henry?”

“I’ll be in the kitchen, making dinner.”

She then walked towards her son and Snow.

She looked at Snow, “Thank you for bringing Henry home today and having him over last night.”

Trying not to laugh as she could clearly see the embarrassment written on Regina’s face Snow tried her best to sounds normal in her response, “No problem at all Regina or should I call you Queen of Mario Kart”…Okay, her attempt to act normal totally failed, but this was just to funny not to tease Regina with.

Regina didn’t say anything, she just rolled her eyes and stepped a little closer to her son and ruffled through his hair with a hand before she quickly made her way to the kitchen.

Emma rose up from the couch and walked over to her mother and son. 

“O my god ma, did you just lose to mom?”

Emma sighed and thought here we go with the teasing….”Yes Henry, I just lost from your mother.”

“I’m sorry for laughing, but this is just to funny…and mom dancing on the table, it’s something I will never ever forget.”

“Yes, that is going to be an image that will forever be in my mind too”, Snow joined the conversation. “I just wanted to drop Henry off and say ‘hi’ to you two before going home to David and Neal.

“Okay, hi mom, bye mom”, Emma responded.

“Don’t be so rude, Emma….but I have to go anyway. Have a nice evening”

Emma walked with her mother to the front door, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. Thank you for looking after Henry.”

“Apology accepted, and no thank you is required. I love spending time with my grandson. I must be going now, I have to prepare for dinner too.”

Emma opened the door for her mother and waved as Snow walked down the path to her car. After her mother had gone she closed the door and walked over to Henry. She put a hand on his shoulder and softly said, “Please follow me to the living room. I have something I would like to talk to you about.”

Henry noticed by the seriousness in Emma’s voice that it must be about something important. His teasing was going to have to wait. “Okay”.

Emma sat down on the couch and listened for a moment, she could hear Regina was still working in the kitchen.

“Kid, I need to talk to you about something important….I want to ask your mother to marry me and I want to do it this Saturday…”

…

TBC

 

A/N: Hope you liked it and I hope to see you return to this story after my exams :)  
p.s. Little reminder that you can follow me on Twitter @SQ_Delta_SQ


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’m back, did you miss me? ;-) Thank you for the reviews, they make me smile, and hello to the new followers! I have to say getting back into my writing flow was a bit problematic that’s also why this chapter might seem a little short, but I hope you’ll enjoy it anyway.

Chapter 25

 

“Please follow me to the living room. I have something I would like to talk to you about.”

Henry noticed by the seriousness in Emma’s voice that it must be about something important. His teasing was going to have to wait. “Okay”.

Emma sat down on the couch and listened for a moment, she could hear Regina was still working in the kitchen.

“Kid, I need to talk to you about something important….I want to ask your mother to marry me and I want to do it this Saturday…”

 

Henry gasped as what his mother just told him really hit him. His ma wanted to ask his mother to marry her. This was just perfect, unexpected but perfect. He had alluded to the idea of marriage to Regina and even shared an actual conversation with his mom about the topic just a few days ago. He knew that Regina loved Emma so much that she would want to marry the blonde and say ‘yes’ if Emma asked her. However, he didn’t expect Emma to be ready for this step so soon even though he had told Regina that if she would be the one to pop the question, he was convinced Emma would say ‘yes’. However, Emma being the one asking first was somehow different and unexpected to him. But the love his mothers had for each other was so strong in his eyes and it had been there for quite some time before the two women themselves realized this, which made this not surprising at the same time. True love, sealed with a kiss and wedding bands that symbolize eternity, now that was a great happy ending to this story. Or perhaps a better description would be a happy beginning of a new phase in which many things would cross their paths the rest of their lives together and would require them to share every happy moment, but also every hardship that would come into their lives.

Emma stared at her son whose mouth hung open a little and whose eyes were widened with surprise. She could almost hear him thinking about the idea, the wheels in his mind turning. After a few seconds a wide smile appeared on her sons’ face, but still he said absolutely nothing. 

Suddenly Henry jumped up from the couch and reached for Emma’s hand and grabbed it tightly. He pulled her up without saying a word and Emma couldn’t help but just led the kid guide her to wherever he was taking her. 

As the both of them walked in the direction of the kitchen, Henry released Emma and basically ordered her, in a way that remind her so much of Regina, to stay where he left her and don’t move.

Henry quickly entered the kitchen and looked around to see Regina chopping vegetables with a large chef’s knife. She was so focused on the job at hand that she hadn’t seen her son yet. So Henry cleared his throat, which made Regina look up from the chopping board and smile at him, before saying, “Mom, I’m taking Emma up to my room to show her my new comics, so if dinner should be ready and you don’t see us in the living room just yell and we’ll be down in a minute.” 

“Okay Henry, I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.” Henry nodded and turned on his heels to get back to his ma. Regina just watched him leave and shrugged before getting back to her chopping. She knew something was up, Henry had just lied to her. She always knew when he lied to her. His voice would be just a pitch higher than normal and he always had a little trouble looking her straight in the eyes and than there was the slight reddening of his cheeks. Yes, Regina knew her son well, and all his tells that came with lying, even if she never let Henry know that she could read him o so very well…

When Henry returned to the hallway he immediately grabbed Emma’s hand again and pulled her with him up the stairs to his bedroom. When they both were inside he closed the door and turned to face his mother and finally spoke up. 

“Why do you want to marry my mother?” Henry’s question was a genuine one. Although he believed in their love for each other he had of course to make sure that Emma herself was sure of herself. That she truly wanted to settle down and never run again, to make an everlasting commitment to his mother whose heart had been broken so many times. He just felt the need to protect her, that was all. He just wanted to hear Emma say she loves his mother with every fibre of her being before he would allow her to ask his mother this o so very important and meaningful question.

Emma was stunned, of all the things she thought her son would say or ask this was not the question she expected. She didn’t really know how to respond, she rubbed her neck with one hand and decided to sit herself down on Henry’s bed. Henry followed her example and sat down beside her, looking at her expectantly as she turned her head to face the boy.

Emma sighed before answering, “I..I want to marry Regina because I love her with all my heart she said as she put her right hand to her chest over the spot where her heart resides. I want to marry her because she is everything. I want to marry her because I want to wake up next to her for the rest of my life, I want to be the one to put a smile on her face, I want to be the one who comforts her when she is sad, I want to be the one who stands behind her and supports her in the things she wants and needs in life. I want to make her mine forever, be her family and I want her to know that I am in this relationships for the long run. And maybe most of all, I want her to have a marriage she actually chose to be in, I want her to pick me to share the rest of her life with, by her own choosing.” During this enumeration of reasons why she wants to marry Regina her voice cracked a little of all the emotions she felt rushing through her body.

Henry listened carefully to his mother and smiled as some of the things Emma said reminded him of his conversation with his mom. He was satisfied with his mom’s answer to his question. To be honest he didn’t think he would be disappointed, but he just really wanted to be sure that Emma was completely serious. He nodded his head at his mother, grinned and said, “Good, then I give you my blessing to ask her this Saturday.”

For some reason a rush of relieve washed over Emma. Her son’s support was a vital thing to have regarding this matter of the heart. It’s why she told Henry about it in the first place, to see how he would feel about it and to ask him if he was okay with her asking Regina’s hand in marriage. Of course she also could use a little help with the planning of how she was going to handle this. She already had an idea, but she wanted to run it by at least someone before starting to make all the necessary arrangements. 

“I’m really glad that you feel so strongly about my mom and that you are so sure that this is what you want. I know this is going to make mom very happy. I think she will be really surprised, but I believe she’ll say ‘yes’, I believe she will choose you ma. She loves you very much.” Henry said as he placed a hand over the one Emma had resting on his bed between the both of them. 

Emma smiled at the kind words and sweet gesture, “I know she loves me kid. She has told me so many times in the past 5 days and I heard her telling you that she loves me.”

Henry’s brows furrowed in confusion. 

“What I am getting at is that I accidentally overheard you and your mom talking about her love for me and I heard you make the suggestion of marriage to her. I also heard her saying that she wanted to marry me, but that she is afraid that it is too soon to ask. Maybe in normal circumstances it would be, but I’ve learned in the years that I have lived here, in this town that there simply is no place for ’normal’, almost nothing here is ‘normal’ and I don’t care about that anymore. I love it, it’s exiting even though it can be very, let’s say, trying and challenging at times. Besides, even being or acting ’normal’ gives you no guarantees in life, you never know if something is going to work out the way you want it or not. I just want to live this life to the fullest and for me that includes being able to call Regina my wife. Also I had actually been thinking about asking your mom to marry me before I even heard your conversation, I just thought it was a stupid idea then, but hearing you and Regina talk changed my mind and made me really want to go through with this. 

All confusion was gone and Henry smiled again. “So do you have a plan already? Or can we make this an operation?”

The excitement in her son’s eyes and voice were endearing. “I was thinking about something I wanted to do, but I would like to run it by you first. Maybe you can help me make my idea even better and help me with the arrangements that have to be made. I do need some help because it’s certainly short notice. I only have Thursday and Friday to get everything done. Saturday will be showtime. And there’s is the matter of me and your mom both having vacation. I need to be able to make the arrangements in secret, I do wish to keep this a surprise for your mother. So we need distractions or reasons for me to leave you two alone for a while.”

“Great, so an operation it is”, Henry grinned. “What shall we call it?”

Emma rubbed her chin as she thought about possible names for an operation. But she was never that good in making up names….operation holy matrimony……operation tie the knot…..operation Snake Eyes….operation …. her mind was blank. “I have to admit; I am not really good at coming up with names. That’s more your area of expertise.

“Okay, let me think for a moment”, Henry said as he mimicked Emma’s posture by slouching a little and tapping his chin with his index finger. 

“I know!”

“We’ll call this operation Vena Amoris”

“Wow, kid that’s something else. Emma tilted her head…”It sounds Latin?”

“Thanks because it is Latin”, Henry stated matter of factly. 

“And is there any particular reason to choose this name instead of your normal more animal centred names?”

Henry smiled, “Yes there definitely is a reason why I chose this name. Vena Amoris is a Latin name meaning, literally, "vein of love". Traditional belief was that this vein ran directly from the fourth finger of the left hand to the heart, which is as we all know associated and a symbol for love. This theory is seen as being one of the reasons the engagement ring and/or wedding ring was placed on the fourth finger, or "ring finger". Even though it is not true that such a vein exists in that particular finger, the symbolism this theory has created in this modern day and age is very much alive and I think the name fits perfectly considering the circumstances.”

“Wow that’s a great story kid. Where do you learn these things, I know they don’t teach you Latin in school? I agree though that it is a wonderful name for our operation, it’s perfect actually.

Pleased that his idea was to Emma’s liking Henry smiled widely at his ma, but quickly turned serious again. “I have to warn you though that it is best that if we discuss this operation in the vicinity of mom that we simply use VA as code. Mom is quite adept at Latin, since the language is often used in her magic books as you know.”

“That’s no problem at all, kid. A traditional animal name would be easier to cover up our mission, but it would not do as much justice to the purpose of this operation as the name you chose now.”

Suddenly both Henry and Emma were startled by Regina’s voice calling from downstairs. “Emma…Henry…dinner is almost ready!”

“Come on kid, we should go downstairs and maybe see if we can be helpful and set the table if your mom hasn’t done so already. We will discuss the ideas I have for proposing to Regina later.”

As they both stood and walked out of Henry’s bedroom and descended the stairs, there was nothing else on their minds than operation Vena Amoris.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, operation Vena Amoris…do you like the name?

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is also posted on ff.net and has more chapters there, I will upload everything here this weekend so don't worry about that. Oh, and I promise the writing gets better after the first few chapters and the chapters will be longer :) *Everything is uploaded, however this work is not finished yet so be on the lookout for updates!


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